


/<*'*!}■ 






A History 

United States Army 

Base Hospital 

No. 36 

(Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery Unit) 




^ 
V 



Organized at Detroit, Michigan 
April 11th, 1917 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

IN the preparation of this pubHcation, 
the Editorial staff gratefully acknow- 
ledge the assistance generously given 
through the loan of illustrative material 
and in various ways by the Detroit Free 
Press, Mr. Clarence M. Hayes, photogra- 
pher for officers photographs; Mr. Don- 
ald Melville, for a large number of kodak 
pictures; Mr. Roy C. Gamble, artist for 
the color sketches and crayon sketches; 
Miss Elizabeth Connell, Mrs. Theodore 
A. McGraw, Mrs. John T. Brodhead. 
Mrs. Burt R. Shurly, Mrs. Frank B. 
Walker, Mrs. J. G. Obee, stenographer. 

Alice Evelyn Cooper 
Burt R. Shurly 
Frank B. Walker 
William D. Maxon. 
Howard M. Erskine 

EDITORIAL STAFF 



CONTENTS 



Foreword ............••• " 

By Maj.-Gen, Merritte W. Ireland 
Introduction ..........■••• 9 

By Col. Burt R. Shurly 
HiSTORY OF Base Hospital 36 

Foundation .............. H 

Vittel ............••• 25 

Preparation .............. 27 

Administration B. H. 36, 1918-1919 45 

Report of Hospital "A" ........... 50 

Eye Department ............. 63 

Ear, Nose and Throat Department ......... 65 

By Maj. Wilfred Haughey 
Department of Dental and Oral Surgery ........ 68 

By Maj. Bion R. East 
Report of Hospital "B" ........... '''5 

By Lt. Col. Frank B. Walker 
Report of Hospital "C" ........... 89 

By Maj. Channing W. Barrett 
Report of Hospital "D" ........... 96 

By Maj. Henry C, Berry 
Report of Hospital "E" ........... 105 

By the Editorial Staff 
X-Ray Laboratory Retort ........... Ill 

By Gapt. Roystoii E. Scrafford 
History of the Clinical Laboratory ......... 119 

By Capt. Joseph Sill and Lt. Anthony J. Font 
Conference on Surgery at the Base ......... 124 

History of the Nursing Department . . . . . . . . .. 130 

Our French Friends ............ 161 

By Elizabeth Hammond Shepard 
Chaplain's Department ........... 165 

By Wm. D. Maxon, D. D. 
Report of Red Cross Activities .......... 175 

By Maj. G. Hunter Brown 
Hospital and Home Communications Service ....... 183 

By Miss Evadne Laptad 
What the Red Cross Did for Base 36 ........ . 187 

By Mrs. W. H. Burtenshaw 
Christmas Boxes, 1917 ........... 194 

By Esther Longyear McGraw 
An Episode of the Late War .......... 196 

By Maj. George E. Fay 
Miscellaneous .............. 198 

Roster of Officers .............. 214 

Roster of Nurses ............. 216 

Roster of Enlisted Men ............ 223 



Prance, Uarch 6, 1919 

Ky dear Colonel: 

I wiGh to thank you for the 
valuable services rendered by you as director 
of Base Hospital .No. S6, Ameriocoa Expeditionary 
Forces, ae medical service of the irmy has 
been one of the most potent factors in the 
achieve/.ient of the great results of the war. To 
you is due much credit for the efficient man- 
agement of one of the largest and most import- 
ant base hospitals in the American Expeditionary 
yoroes. I regret sincerely that I was unable to 
personally express to you my appreciation of 
your excellent services before you sailed from 
Prance. 

Believe me. 

Very sincerely. 



7/ 

lieutenant Colonel Burt H. Shurly, U.S.A., 
32 Adams Avenue V/est, 

Detroit, Xichigan. 




FOREWORD 

By Major General Merritte W. Ireland 
Surgeon General, U. S. Army 

HE publication at this time, when the events they embrace are so fresh in our 
memories, of histories of our Base Hospitals and other Medical Department 
Units that saw service either overseas or in the home territory during the World 
War should prove welcome and valuable additions to our gradually expanding 
Worldwariana. Aside from the personal interest in narratives of this character 
quite naturally aroused in everyone who has been associated with the activities 
they relate, these volumes should constitute brilliant chapters of American participation in the 
war. By the members of the Unit concerned they will be treasured as a token of their contribu- 
tion to the success of the war. With due modesty and covering a circumscribed sphere of activity 
in the case of each Unit, collectively they tell of, to quote from the official commendation of the 
Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, "Achievements which have added 
new glory to the noble professions they have so ably represented." To the young manhood of the 
Nation who responded to the call of the colors our Base Hospitals need no introduction. Thous- 
ands upon thousands of these young men, sick or wounded, passed through their portals. They 
left them profoundly appreciative of the tender ministrations they had received as patients there- 
in. In their memories is indelibly engraved what a haven these hospitals were in their hour of 
need. 

The very name "Base Hospital" occupies an enviable place in our historical archives. The 
first Unit of the United States Army to set forth for the Theater of Operations in Europe was 
a Base Hospital that had been organized under the auspices of the American Red Cross. That 
Unit eventually proved to be the vanguard of that mighty host of American manhood that was 
destined to follow in the trail it had blazed and throw the balance of power on the Western Front 
to the side of the Allies, to the consternation and ultimate defeat of the enemy. In its role as 
a pioneer it was also an efficient demonstration of farsighted preparedness to which the medical 
profession of America may well point with pride. In this connection we should not lose sight 
of the fact that this First Unit dispatched by America to the relief of our Allies was one whose 
sole mission was that of mercy. 

When the complete story of the great conflict is finally written our Hospital Units will come 
in for their well-merited share of praise. Their contribution to the combined cause was not 
found wanting. Never has the world seen a finer body of men and women than were assembled 
in those Units. They went forth imbued with the highest ideals of duty, and returned with the 
indorsement of work well and faithfully done. They arrived in France with httle or no previous 
military training. That they could so quickly adjust themselves to the work at hand, maintain 
an endless optimism in the face of distressing conditions, and render such splendid services with 
the limited means at their disposal, constitutes one of the brightest pages in the chronicles of the 
war. 

Base Hospital No. 36 was the first Unit of the 1,000 bed type to be dispatched overseas. 
It arrived in France and became established at Vittel during the fall of 1917. It was an eye- 
witness to the growth of the American Expeditionary Forces from infancy to full maturity. 

Base Hospital No. 36 wrote its record of glorious achievement during that critical period of 
1918 when the Allies, including all the available resources of the American Expeditionary 
Forces, were exerting their maximum effort against the enemy. At that time the hospitals of 
the American. Expeditionary Forces were being taxed to their utmost capacity. Hospital trains 
convoying hundreds of sick and wounded from the front, were rolling into our hospital centers 



day and night without interruption. Thanks to the self-sacrificing devotion to duty manifested 
by every member of these Hospital Units, comfortable beds and gentle hands were always 
ready to receive them. The never-ending work was carried on with an administrative precision 
and professional thoroughness that challenged the admiration of everyone, including the grate- 
ful patients themselves. During this time of stress the busy and efficient hospital center that 
had been organized at Vittel-Contrexeville, in the foothills of the Vosges, for this very emerg- 
ency, and of which Base Hospital No. 36 was a component, constituted one of the chief reliances 
in our established hospitalization-evacuation chain. In meeting every demand made upon it, it 
proved to be a boon far beyond our expectations. 

It is quite likely that the Army and the world at large will never fully realize the debt of 
gratitude which they owe to the splendid and self-sacrificing personnel of these Base Hospital 
Units. Their work was accomplished under the handicap of a great shortage in personnel and 
it was only by exerting almost superhuman efiforts, working throughout the day and on into the 
night, that they were able to achieve the remarkable results they did. Surgeons, nurses, and men 
literally dropped at the operating tables and in the wards from fatigue. Seldom were complaints 
heard. Theirs was an illustrious manifestation of magnificent devotion to duty. To appreciate 
their accomplishments in the face of obstacles seemingly insurmountable one must have seen 
these Units in actual operation. However the reader of the pages that follow who did not have 
the good fortune to belong to one of these Units will probably be able to visualize the import- 
ant role played by members of a Base Hospital Unit established in support of our forces at the 
Front. As an ex-Chief Surgeon of the American Expeditionary Forces and in appreciation of 
work so well and faithfully done, I subscribe for every member of Base Hospital No. 36 a last- 
ing place on the honor roll of the American Expeditionary Forces and in the hearts of a grateful 
Nation. 

In accomplishing what you did through an unanimity of effort and a high sense of duty you 
have earned the right to align yourselves alongside your honored comrades of the Line, and say 
to them, truly and fittingly, 



"I have eaten your bread and salt, 
I have drunk your water and wine; 
The death ye died I have watched beside. 
And the lives that ye led were mine." 




HE war achievements of Base Hospital 
No. 36 cannot be told in a few words. 

The story of devotion and sacrifice is the 
honor and privilege of our organization. 
The consciousness of the one fact that we 
voluntarily tried to minister to the distress of the 
suffering soldier through the long nights and days of 
war is sufficient satisfaction that we existed. If, in the 
smallest measure, we have relieved humanity, lightened 
the burden, prevented the wastage of men, and saved 
the lives of our soldiers, for their families and their 
Country — our patriotic zeal is repaid in full measure. 

We took over in the midst of winter, five summer 
hotels. With meager supplies and under enormous 
difficulties we opened them for the reception of 400 
patients three weeks after our arrival. The wonderful 
spirit of untiring work made this possible. Fifteen 
thousand patients have been received, nourished, treated 
with gentleness and attention, and operated with the 
greatest care and consideration. Theirs is a full 
appreciation of our efforts. It is sufficient commendation 
that, we have been privileged to live in this great era of 
history in this zone of war, and serve humanity to the 
best of our ability. Any personal privation or sacrifice 
cannot be measured with those of the brave and heroic 
soldiers who have served. 

Base Hospital 36 was born in a spirit of patriotism. 
It has endeavored to maintain the customs, discipline, 
and standards of the United States Army. With others, 
it has exemplified for the first time in the history of the 
Medical Department, that a Base Hospital under the 
Red Cross and a regular army organization, can 
successfuly operate on foreign soil. 

As the years roll by, and we follow the pursuits of 
peace, our achievements of humanitarian service to the 
suffering soldier will afford sufficient reward for our 
sacrifice. 

Burt R. Shurlv, Lt. Col., Medical Corps, U. S. A. 



mm 



psf ' * * * 




Burt R. Shurly 

Lt. Col. and Medical Director 



HISTORY OF BASE HOSPITAL 36 

FOUNDATION 

AS soon as the United States had declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, Mr. Carl E. 
Schmidt, of Detroit, Michigan, ofifered $35,000 to establish a second base hospital for that 
city. He communicated first with Major Burt R. Shurly, Medical Officers' Reserve Corps, Dean 
of the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery, who had previously been appointed to take 
charge of the medical department of the base hospital unit organized by the Harper Hospital of 
Detroit; and Major Shurly at once telegraphed to Colonel Jesse Kean, of the Red Cross and 
Army Medical Department, for authority to establish and equip a Detroit College of Medicine 
and Surgery Unit to be recruited from the faculty, staff, graduates and students of the College. 

Authority was granted next day. The Unit, now designated as Base Hospital 36, was to 
consist of twenty-four officers, sixty-five nurses and one hundred and fifty enlisted men. Major 
Shurly was chosen Medical Director, Mrs. Betsy L. Harris, Superintendent of the Children's 
Free Hospital, of Detroit, Chief Nurse, and Alexander I. Lewis, of the Red Cross, Purchasing 
Agent, and, under the auspices of the Red Cross, the organization and equipment of the Unit 
was begun. On April 13 Mrs. Harris was directed to commence recruiting the nurses and on 
May 1 a call was sent out for men ; on May 6 an article asking for about a hundred men ap- 
peared in the Detroit papers. 

The people of Detroit responded liberally to the call for support ; Mrs. Julian H. Harris donat- 
ed $5,000 to equip the X-ray department, Messrs. Emory W. Clark, Gilbert Lee and others pre- 
sented the Unit with a seven-seated Paige car, Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Lewis gave the Unit a 
Hall truck, Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Stair a Paige ambulance, the Paige Motor Car Company, one 
of their own ambulances, and Mr. Edward Hammond a Ford car and the Farwell Estate a White 
ambulance. Mrs. M. S. Smith presented the Unit with $1,000; Mr. R. H. Collins, $1,000; Dr. 
T. A. McGraw, Sr., $500; Mr. C. B. Hodges, $500 for a special fund toward providing hos- 
pital necessities in France ; Mr. H. W. Ford, $200 ; Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Meredith, $100 ; Miss 
Margaret E. Eaton, $130; Mrs. H. W. Ford, $100; Mr. W. P. Hamilton, $100; Miss Florence R. 
Koppin, $60; Mr. Bryant Walker, $100; Raphael Herman, $50; Doctor George Duffield, $50; 
Mrs. F. T. Sibley, $50 ; Mrs. George L. Bahl, $35 ; Mrs. Theodore H. Eaton, $30 ; Mr. and Mrs. 
A. W. Copland, $50; Miss Maude Van Syckle, $35; Mr. Willard Worcester, $10; Mr. David 
Gray (Auto Fund), $90; Judge William L. Carpenter (Auto Fund), $100; Mrs. J. A. Vance 
(Sewing Machine Fund), $35; Mrs. Thomas H. Stephens, $130; Dames Loyal Legion, $700; 
Lowell Club (Mrs. J. A. Vance), $35; First Aid Class (Mrs. Donald), $100; Cheerful Workers 
Circle, King's Daughters, Mrs. Gertrude A. Stilwell, Treas., $60. 

The staff of the Unit was made up chiefly from the faculty of the College of Medicine and 
Surgery; Major Frank B. Walker was selected as chief of the Department of Surgery and 
Captain Myron W. Clift as chief of the Laboratory Department. Captain Theodore A. McGraw 
became Adjutant and, on May 36, was ordered to active duty for the purpose of recruiting, which 
had been authorized by the War Department on the 19th. The greater number of these recruits 
was sworn in on May 31 in Captain McGraw's office at 73 Cass St. On June 1 he received or- 
ders to enlist one hundred and forty-seven privates, and on June 4 reported completion of duty. 

Chicago, III., June i, 1917. 
Captain Theodore A. McGraw, Jr., 
College of Medicine Faculty, Detroit, Mich. 

Enlist one hundred forty-seven privates; send duplicate enlistment paper to surgeon general 
Washington. Assign men to base hospital number thirty-six. Forivard report of assignment 
to department commander Central Department and service record to director. See para- 
graph thirty-five, changes regulations enlisted reserve corps number one April thirty, seventeen. 

Stephenson. 
In this work Capt. McGraw was assisted by Sergeant Charles M. Parker of the 31st Michigan 
Infantry and Sergeant DuSault of the Cavalry. The men had been selected with all the care pos- 
sible from about four hundred applicants, mostly of Detroit. 



The nurses were recruited by Mrs. Harris, from Detroit hospitals and elsewhere. In order to 
be accepted they had to be physically qualified, between twenty-five and forty years old, registered 
in the State and graduated from recognized training schools of more than fifty beds. They 
were further registered as Red Cross nurses. The number was completed by July 1. Miss Eliz- 
abeth Hammond was selected as Civilian Interpreter, Mrs. Mary L. Burgess as Dietitian, Mrs. 
Ray W. Bishop as Civilian Registrar, M. Jules Faulcon as Chef, Mme. Antoinette Faulcon as 
Assistant to the Chef, and Mrs. A. B. Cooper as Stenographer. 

On May 24 a special service was held in Christ Episcopal Church for the dedication of a 
flag presented by Greenwood, Atkinson and Armstrong, uniform manufacturers of Detroit. The 
sermon was preached by the Reverend Dr. William D. Maxon, Chaplain of the Unit and Rector 




Flag Presented by Grccmvood, Atkinson '& Armstrong. I- Ian I'l 



lied hy Sludenls oj Helniil College of 
Medieinc and Surgery. 



of the Church. On June 26 the members of the Unit were assembled for the first time in a 
parade organized for the purpose of raising Red Cross funds, which, starting at 2 o'clock, 
marched down Woodward Avenue to Cadillac Square. Here a prayer was offered by Dr. Maxon, 
an address delivered by the Reverend Dr. Emerson, of the Woodward Avenue Congregational 
Church, and a flag presented by the faculty of the College of Medicine and Surgery. 

In the meantime, the Detroit Commandery of Knights Templar had interested itself in the 
Unit and ofifered to provide for an additional head hospital of five hundred beds. On July 10 
authority for this was granted and it became necessary to enlist thirty-five more nurses and fifty 
more men. Most of these last were sworn in on July 28. 

From June 1 to the time of their going into camp on August 23 the men were drilled two 
or three nights a week, chiefly at the Eastern Market, and on occasional Saturday afternoons at 
Belle Isle, under the direction of Major J. H. Roehl, of the 31st Michigan Infantry, by Captain 




Presentation of Lewis-Hall Motor Truck. 



Another View of Flag Presentation. 



Nicholas A. Kramer, of the 31st Michigan Infantry (who, together with Major Roehl, had vol- 
unteered to help the Unit), Major Shurly, Captain McGraw and Lieutenant Hosmer; and, dur- 
ing the same period, the equipment was stored and packed by some of the men on the third 
floor of the Marquette Building at Congress and Shelby Streets, under the supervision of Cap- 
tain Edwin S. George, former Quartermaster of Base Hospital 17, and, from the first week of 
June, Quartermaster of 36. 

On August 20, Majors Frank B. Walker and Channing W. Barrett Captains T. A. McGraw, 
James W. Inches, Myron W. Clift, Arthur B. Smith, George E. Fay, James D. Matthews, Her- 
bert E. Randall and Wilfred Haughey, First Lieutenants Ira G. Downer, Ross U. Adams, 
George Van Rhee, Anthony Font, Leo J. Stafford, Claude B. Gaines, Ward E. Collins, Arthur 
M. McArthur, Clarence E. Weaver, William H. Woolston, all of the Medical Officers' Reserve 
Corps, and First Lieutenants Bion R. East and Harry L. Hosmer, of the Dental Reserve 
Corps, were directed to report for duty to Major Shurly. Sergeant First Class Anthony G. 
Helfenstein, an enlisted man in the Medical Corps since April 20, 1915, was also ordered to 
report for duty on this day. Major Shurly was directed to proceed to Fort Benjamin Harri- 
son in command of the enlisted men and officers in order to equip and train his command. 

The next day, however, he was directed to await instructions at Detroit, upon completion of 
mobilization, and to ship hospital equipment to Pier No. 45, North River, New York, and was 
asked if he could mobilize the enlisted personnel at Detroit. Permission was granted by the 
Michigan State Fairgrounds Association to use the fairgrounds for this purpose and, under the 
direction of Captain McGraw, assisted by a few enlisted men. a camp was immediately pitched 
there between Woodward Avenue and the Automobile Building. Electric light and water were 
installed and wall-tents accommodating twelve men each put up. These last were supplied by the 
J. C. Goss Company of Detroit. 

CAMP 

The Unit was mobilized at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 23rd. Captain Clift was as- 
signed Assistant Adjutant, Captain Inches, Sanitary Officer, and Captain Matthews, Mess Officer ; 
H. M. Erskine, Acting Sergeant-Major; John V. Sweeney, Sergeant; Cornelius Holland, Mess 
Sergeant, George H. Kenney and Leavitt J. Bulkley, Quartermaster Sergeants, and Wesley 
Cordes and Bland A. Pugh, Acting Sergeants. The mess was organized with Jack Bayne, Jack 
Morris, Herbert J. Myring, Jack Yuill, Clarence G. Ewald, George Wilson, Howard P. Tucker, 
John J. Conway, Lawrence Greenleaf, Eugene G. Peters, William Sewell and Frank Dougherty, 
and prepared and served in a small building on the grounds, donated for the purpose by the 
Methodist Church. The food was supplied, under the direction of Mrs. R. H. Macauley, Mrs. 
Austin W. Wing and Mrs. Charles F. Hammond, by the National League for Woman's Service 
The Quartermaster Department was organized with Cyril D'Haene, Ferris H. Fitch, Raymond 
F. Lyons, R. L. Carpenter, Goddie F. Phillips, Leland M. Swift, Charles J. Harnden, Charles J. 
Roberge, George Herbst, Marcus J. Kennedy and Percy D. Hackett; the Transportation De- 
partment, under Harry A. George, with Harold S Holmes, Leo Lyons, Herbert Hass, William 
De Lisle and Clarence Knapp; the Adjutant's Office with Howard M. Erskine, Cecil Fowler, 
John R. Mason, Leo Meissner and Walter G. Seeber; and the Chaplain's Department, which 
managed the postoffice, canteen and entertainments, with Sergeant Brown, George W. H3'de and 
Adrian R. Jones. On the following day, Charles F. Ives, Clarence Otter, Asa M. Baker, and Ber- 
nard A. Harrigan were appointed Acting Sergeants. The first four days were employed in getting 
the camp ready for use. 

On Monday, August 27, Major Hiram A. Phillips, Medical Corps, reported for duty as Com- 
manding Officer and the regular work of the Unit was begun. The first drill was conducted by 
Captain Kraemer and a series of lectures commenced, in which the officers explained to the men 
the rudiments of first aid and anatomy. On the 27th William A. Healy, Stanley Sessions, Cecil 
Fowler and Orvin Havey were appointed Acting Sergeants and on the 28th Cyril D'Haene and 




Hiram A. Phillips 
Lt.-Colonel and Commanding Officer from Aug. 37, 1917, to Sept. 18, 1918. 



Harry A. George were appointed Sergeants. The following daily program was adopted : Fir: 
Call, 5:30 a. m. ; Reveille, 5:45; Assembly, 5:50; Police, 6.30; Mess, 7; Sick Call, 7.30; Fin 
Call for Drill, 7.45 ; Assembly, 7.55 ; Lecture, 8 to 8.50 ; Rest, 8.50 to 9 ; Drill, 9 to 9.50 ; Lectur 
10 to 10.50; Recall, 11; First Sergeant's Call, 11.30; Mess Call, 12; Sick Call, 1 p. m. ; Fatigi 
Call, 1.10; First Call for Drill, 1.45; Assembly, 1.55; Recall, 4; Guard Mount, 4.30; Mess, 5.3( 
First Call for Retreat, 7; Assembly, 7.10; Call to Quarters, 9.30; Taps, 10. Beginning Septen 
ber 13, Reveille was sounded at 6 instead of 5.30 and, after a time, the afternoon drills were r( 
placed by hikes. All the drilling was conducted by Major Roehl and Captain Kraemer, h\ 
when these, after two weeks, had been obliged to leave, was taken over by Lieutenants Sackride 
Raynale,. Hosmer and Smith. 

On September 1 Captain Smith took Captain Matthews' place as Mess Officer and the Un 
began supplying its own mess, which was cooked and eaten in three tents set up on the can- 
grounds. 

On September 3 Captain McGraw was assigned Recruiting Officer, Charles F. Brow 
appointed Sergeant and Philip Bear Acting Sergeant. 

On September 4 Roy Cummings, Leon A. Ouellette and Thomas W. Ciliax were appointe 
Acting Sergeants. 

On September 5 the nurses, who had received orders on the 3rd to proceed to New Yor 
were sworn in at the fairgrounds and proceeded on the 6th to New York. The next day 
Red Cross flag and a guidon were presented to the Unit by the Woman's Chapter of the Macorr 
Coimty Red Cross. 

On the 6th Captain Inches was relieved from duty and left the Unit in order to accor 
pany Bishop Charles D. Williams to France as a member of the Red Cross commission. 1 
fill his place and complete the number of officers which the enlargement of the hospital to 
thousand beds necessitated, the following officers were ordered to report for duty and arrive 
at the fairgrounds on the days indicated : Lieuteiant Reed A. Shankwiler, September 8 : Liei 
tenants George P. Sackrider and Arthur J. Warren, September 10 ; Major Henry G. Berry, Ca] 
tain Joseph Sill and Lieutenant Scott S. Fay, September 11 ; Lieutenants Royston E. Scraffoi 
and Eugene Smith, Jr., September 13; Lieutenant George P. Raynale, September 16; Lieutenai 
Fred L. Stone, September 17 ; and Lieutenant Albert E. Harris, September 20. On Septembc 
27 Captain Haughey was assigned Summary Court Officer. On October 11 Captain Andrew 1 
Schons, of the Quartermaster Reserve Corps, reported for duty and took over the work of Ca] 
tain George, who was relieved from duty the same day and afterwards attached to the Tran 
portation Department of the Signal Corps. 

In the meantime, the extreme cold weather had made it necessary for the whole Unit, wil 
the exception of the mess, to move from the tents into the Automobile Buildiri 
(which was lent for the purpose by the Michigan State Fairgrounds Association), the oft 
cers occupying the second floor and the men the first. On September 18 Thirty-Six took pa 
in a parade of drafted men which marched along Woodward and Jef?erson Avenues. On th 
occasion the men were led by their own band, which had been organized under the direction c 
Sergeant Otter on September 7. On October 3 a little more than half the men, commanded 1 
Lieutenants Smith and Hosmer, took a long hike to Captain George's estate at Bloomfield Hill 
where they pitched camp in the woods and remained for two nights, getting back to the fai 
grounds the afternoon of the 5th. During the remainder of the fairground period, the followir 
promotions were made : Alfredo duFault to Acting Sergeant. September 21 ; Acting Sergean 
Otter and Fowler to Sergeants, September 29 ; Acting Sergeant Baker to Sergeant, September 3( 
Acting Sergeant Sessions to Sergeant, October 1 , Herbert J. Myring, Jack Morris and John I 
Aivalier to Cooks, October 6 ; Sergeant Holland to Mess Sergeant. October 8 : and Sergean 



Erskine, Sweeney, Bulkley and Brown to Sergeants First Class, October 22. On October 26, 
just before the Unit left, the Acting Sergeants reverted to their former status of Privates and 
were promoted to the rank of Privates First Class. 

Before its actual departure, the Unit was several times prepared to leave; on one occasion, 
October 11, the personnel went so far as to pack up in the expectation of going the next morn- 
ing. On October 1 Major Phillips was instructed to leave on the 23rd of that month, but these 
orders were countermanded on the 18th and the next day new orders were received to leave for 
Hoboken on the 26th. 




■**?!"&? 







Drill at Fair Grounds. 

Camp at Fair Grounds. 
Attention: Fair Grounds. 



Group of B. H. 36 Soldiers. 



Drill at Fair Grounds. 
Group of B. H. 36 Soldiers. 
Camp at Pair Grounds. 



Headquarters Base Hospital 36 

Fair Grounds, Detroit Mich 
October 18th, 1917. 
Special Orders : — 
No. 8 

Pursuant to instructions, Commanding General, Headquarters Central Department, 
Chicago, 111., Dated October 13th, 1917, Base Hospital No. 36, now stationed Fair Grounds, 
Detroit, Mich., will proceed to New York City, N. Y., leaving Detroit Monday, October 
22nd, 1917, arriving in Hoboken, N. J., the following morning, Oct. 23rd, 1917. 

The Quartermaster, Ft. Wayne, Mich., will furnish commutation of rations at the rate 
of seventy cents per day, per man, paid in advance, (one day) 

The travel directed is necessary in the military service. 

By Command of Major Hiram A. Phillips, 
Theodore A. McGraw, Jr., 

Capt. M. O. R. C. Adjutant. 

FROM DETROIT TO VITTEL 

The Unit entrained on Oct. 26 at 9 :30 a. m. in cars drawn up on a spur track behind the fair- 
grounds and travelled to the Lackawanna Station at Hoboken. Arriving at 6 a. m., the person- 
nel breakfasted in the station lunchroom, immediately afterwards took the ferryboat to New 
York and about 9.30 boarded the Cunard Steamship Orduna, which was docked at Pier 54, North 
River. Here Sergeants Bulkley and Kennedy received orders to transfer from the Medical De- 
partment to the Quartermaster Corps and left the Unit at once. 

The nurses joined the officers and men on the boat. Arriving in New York at 8 a. m. on 
September 7, they had been quartered first in United States Army Hospital No. 1, at Gunhill Road 
and Bainbridge Avenue, and on September 29 transferred to St. Mary's Hospital in Hoboken, 
where they remained until the day of sailing. In New York they were drilled by officers of the 
Presbyterian Base Hospital No. 2 and on October 4 carried the Detroit and American flags and 
marched down Fifth Avenue from 79th Street to Washington Square in a Red Cross parade of 
two hundred, made up of all the hospital units already mobilized in New York and of all the 
local chapters of the Red Cross. 

At this time the personnel of the enlisted men was as follows : Sergeants First Class, Anthony 
G. Helfenstein, Howard M. Erskine, John V. Sweeney and Charles F. Brown; Sergeants, Asa M. 
Baker, Cyril D'Haene, Cecil Fowler, Harry A. George, Cornelius Holland, George H. Kenney, 
Bland A. Pugh and Donald W. Sessions; Cooks, John H. Aivalier, Jack Morris and Herbert J. 
Myring; Privates First Class, Phillip Bear, Thomas W. Ciliax, Wesley Cordes. Roy Cummings, 
Alfredo du Fault, Bernard A. Harrigan, Orvin Havey, William A. Healy, Charles Ives and Leon 
Ouellette; Privates, Avon D. Adams, Oran C. Allen, John Anderson, John C. Askan, Anthony 
Aukstikalnis, Samuel G. Backus, Colin T. Bain, Albert J. Barnett, Jack Bayne. Watson Beach, 
George L. Benton, Edward A. Biber, Oley R. Blanchard, Arthur P. Bogue, Charles E. Bohn, 
James Bradley, Vance B. Buchanan, Frank P. Burgwin, Bruce Campbell, James V. Campbell, 
Harry Carlin, Rolla L. Carpenter, Harry T. Carver, Jr., Joseph M. Cashmore, William S. Cash- 
more, Emmanuel Christensen, John Cleary, Clarence Clemmer, Harry S. Cline, Francis R. Cogan, 
Jack W. Comerford, John J. Conway, Maurice Coquez, Alfred W. Crabb, James Curran, Har- 
old M. Davis, William DeLisle, Joseph Derzai, Hugh Dill, George Discher, Frank Dougherty, 
John Entwistle, Kent Erwin, Arthur Evans, Clarence G. Ewald, Ferris H. Fitch, Silas M. 
Finn, Robert D. Fraser, William D. Foster, Roy C. Gamble, Joseph Gauthier, Walter C. Genthe, 
Richard E. George, Dwight S. Gilbert, Ronald S. Gilbert, Joseph M. Giroux, John F. Girod, Ed- 
mund T. Goodrich, Wilfred Green, Lawrence Greenleaf, James H. Griffith, William G. Grist, 



Percy C. Hackett, Arthur M. Hamilton, David O. Hamilton, Thomas J. Hamilton, Charles J. 
Harnden, Ralph W. Harper, Floyd W. Harrison, Herbert Hass, Carl A. Hatch, Alfred C. 
Hensell, George Herbst, Carl Holbrook, Harold S. Holmes, William E. Honey, Wilbur T. 
Huddle, Stanley D. Hunt, George W. Hyde, Leslie G. Ireland, Valentine P. Joe, Earl Johnston, 
Adrian R. Jones, Lee Joslyn, Jr., Gerald F. Kelly, Sherman F. Kelly, Charles P. Kennedy, Jesse 
L. Klingman, Clarence Knapp, Walter H. Kramer, Frederick B. Libbe, Henry J. Lockhardt, Carol 
Lutey, Leo Lyons, Raymond T. Lyons, Harry A. McConnell, Claude G. McDonald, Walter Mc- 
Gillicuddy, Donald H. McQueen, Florian Mack, Frederick C. Magnan, Herbert Marchant, John 
Marks, Richard Martin, John R. Mason, Willis T. Medcalfe, Leo Meissner, Donald Melville, 
Lloyd C. Merriman, Russell W. Metcalf, Raymond T. Milroy, Albert J. Montie, Jack Morris, 
Lester A. Morrison, John G. Mroch, Robert J. Myring, Walter R. Nash, Donald A. 
Noble, Frank W. Norton, Roscoe G. Norton, Peter B. O'Neil, Harry L. Phillips. 
Goddie F. Phillips, Kenneth F. Pinnegar, Arthur Peterson, Eugene G. Peters, William F. Post- 
man, William R. Pulkinghorn, Weden O. Ranshaw, Leo J. Rabbette, Roscoe R. Rau, Claire D. 
Reason, Racine Ripley, Charles J. Roberge, George Robinson, Albert L. Rogers, Edward C. Ross, 
Albert Schlenker, Windsor D. Schuyler Walter Scott, Walter G. Seeber, Stanley Sessions, Wil- 
liam Sewell, Claire Shoemaker, Archie P. Singer, Carl Sitter, Lloyd C. Smart, Raymond B. 
Smedley, Walter A. Smiley, Frank H. Smith, Arthur W. Sorensen, Leland M. Swift, Howard 
Tanner, William E. Teague, Howard P. Tucker, Joseph A. Varion, Edward R. Vanderlinde, 
Jack F. Wallace, Skeen D. Wallace, Earl Weaver, George B. West, Ralph R. Wheeler, John J. 
Whelan, William F. Wild, Ross F. Wilkins, Carl Williams, Edmund Wilson, Jr., George Wil- 
son, Spencer Woodworth, Thomas L. Wood, Hal F. Wright, William F. Wright and Jack Yuill. 
This was the final roll after a number of changes in the personnel had been made at the fair- 
grounds ; several men had been transferred or discharged and others enlisted to take their places. 
The personnel of the nurses was as follows: Chief Nurse, Mrs. Betsey L. Harris; Assist- 
ant Chief Nurse, Miss Jennie Abramson; Nurses, Maude Arkell, Emma A. Arnold, Eva G. 




5". S. Ordutia. 



S. S. IVarilda. 





Nurses, Base Hospital No. 36, Gun Hill Road, Bronx, New York., 
31 



Babcock, Marie M. Bach, Aurel Baker, Minnie V. Black, Eva G. Blackwell, Mrs. Frances 
Boulton, Kathryn E. Burns, Frances I. Caldwell, Edith E. Campbell, Nellie M. Cavan, Florence 
G. Cornes, Alice Evelyn Cooper, Ethel F. Cotter, Florence N. Crane, Grace M. Daly, Ethel H. 
Davidson, Lillian M. Dent, Frances L. Deyell, Josephine Deyell, Rebecca M. Douglas, Jessie G. 
Duncan, Anna A. Dwyer, Catherine E. Eoll, Frances A. Ferguson, Etta C. Foster, Sue C. 
Gallagher, Mary E. Gano, Margaret M. Geierman, Catherine Gelineau, Alice M. Gilmore, Kath- 
ryn Gorman, I. Malinde Havey, Marguerite Headley, Eleanor Hine, Bertha M. Hovi^ard, Janet 
Jefferson, Vera Johnson, Anna C. Kaiser, Jessica A. Keating, Amy I. Keel, N. Christine Keyes, 
Catherine B. Killoran, Grace Knapp, Elizabeth M. LaForge, Nellie Leggate, Minnie A. Lester, 
Grace L Lewis, Ethel M. Lickley, Elsie M. Lockhart, Mrs. Emile T. Lohr, Florence J. Lyons, 
Emma J. McCaw, Maude C. McGlynn, Margaret McDonald, Sarah A. McDonald, Emma J. 
MacDonald, Martha J. MacDonald, Mrs. Nellie Malone, Florence A. Martin, Marie P. Mayer, 
Edith Medhurst, Blanche Meyers, Pearl R. Miller, Norma F. Miller, Ella Moran, Martha G. 
Murphy, Lydia J. Olson, Clara A. Olson, Genevieve Pailca, Carrie J. Ramler, Agnes W. Reid, 
Margaret C. Roll, Louise J. Ruetz, Rosanna C. Schulte, Signe Schwartz, Penelope C. Smith, Julia 
A. Stahl, Estella Stroupe, Ann Strub, Dolina Stuart, A. Adelaide Tallion, Jean Thomson, 
Mary B. Tonner, Phoebe R. Tullar, Harriet Turner, Verna Ulrey, Josephine Valentine, 
Annie Virtue, Edna Waterman, Mrs. Charles H. Widdicomb, Jessie M. Wilson, E. Gertrude 
Witban, Esther L Wonderly. Three nurses who had been with the Unit in New York were dis- 
charged before it sailed; and Mrs. Mary L. Burgess was obliged to remain in America in obedi- 
ence to the regulation which excludes the wives of officers from service with the army. 

Thirty-six was the first Base Hospital of a thousand beds to leave America. 

The Orduna was scheduled to sail at noon but, owing to a small fire among the cargo of 
cotton in the hold, the sailing was postponed until three in the afternoon. The military officer 
of the ship was Major T. J. Moynahan, of the 165th Infantry; and, besides 36, there were the 
88th, 89th and 90th Aero Squadrons, nine officers thirty-one nurses and forty-seven men of 
Base Hospital 21 and a detachment of sixty-three men from the Quartermaster Corps. The offi- 
cers and nurses of 36 were quartered in the first-class cabin and the men in the steerage, partly in 
small rooms accommodating four each and partly in a large room in the hold, which had for- 
merly been used for baggage. 

On the noon of October 29, the Orduna arrived in Halifax Harbor and dropped anchor 
until 3 p. m. on the 31st. During this time, she was joined by a convoy consisting of the Vic- 
torian, the Adriatic, the Bclgic, the Rhesius, the Manchuria, the Calgarian and the Thebian. On 
the voyage, the men were given setting-up exercises and all the passengers life-boat drill. The 
ships, however, sailing close together and entirely darkened at night, were never troubled by 
submarines and, except for a little rough weather, had a calm and easy voyage. 

While awaiting orders in Halifax Harbor a number of officers and nurses who were fortunate 
recipients of patented Life Saving Suits presented by Mrs. H. N. Torrey and her sister, de- 
cided to assure themselves that the paraphernalia was really "life saving." Suits were donned and 
a gangway lowered to the water. i\Iajor Barrett was the first to leap bravely into the briny 
deep, being followed by a dozen or more officers and nurses. It took the aid of half the crew to 
bring the party safely on board, but they had good Christian Science baths, and were satisfied 
that the life saving suits were a reality. 

On November 1 and 2, respectively, William R. Pulkinghorn and Charles E. Bohn, pharma- 
cists, were appointed Sergeants. On November 7 appeared the first number of the Reveille, a 
small monthly paper of four pages, founded by Leo J. Rabbette and printed by Willis T. Med- 
calfe. 



.^ 



On the 9th, when the ships were in sight of Scotland and Ireland, which they were ap- 
proaching from the north, a small fleet of destroyers and submarine chasers came out to escort 
them. They entered the Mersey channel thus about 7 a. m. on the 10th and at 2.30 p. m. the Unit 
debarked at Liverpool and proceeded to the station of the London Northwestern Railway. Here 
Lieutenant Gaines was detached to travel with the nurses, whom he accompanied till the 15th, 
and Sergeant D'Haene to look after the baggage, with which he travelled to Le Havre by the 
same route as the rest of the Unit, but leaving Liverpool three weeks after them. 

At 5.30 p. m. the officers and men boarded a train, travelled all night, stopping once for 
refreshment at Birmingham, and at 2 a. m. arrived in Southampton, where they marched from 
the dock three miles to American Rest Camp No. 1. The men were here quartered in mushroom 
tents, sleeping on a wooden floor, heads at the pole and bodies radiating therefrom like the 
spokes of a wheel. The officers were "housed" in barracks and slept upon iron beds with the 
'softest chicken wire obtainable for mattresses. Their backs resembled waffles in the morning. 
At 10:00 A. M., November 13, they left the camp and boarded the British trans- 
port Caesarea about noon. The Caesarea sailed at 4 :00 o'clock that afternoon, but 
was obliged, on account of a heavy fog, to turn back during the night and lie in 
Southampton Harbor until -1 p. m. on November 11, when she sailed for a second time and, 
after a good voyage, arrived at Le Havre about midnight. Besides 36, there were also on the 
Caesarea some American Aero Squadron men and a number of British troops. Privates Walter 
Scott and Frank P. Burgwin were left behind sick at Southampton in a British hospital. At Le 
Havre the officers and men were both quartered in the barracks of American Rest Camp No. 2 
over the night of the 15th. 

In the meantime, the nurses had spent the night of the 10th in the Northwestern Hotel at 
Liverpool and the next morning started at eight to proceed by train to Southampton, where they 
arrived at 5 p. m. and immediately went aboard the British hospital ship Warilda. There they 
spent the night and the next day were transferred to another British hospital ship, the Panama, 
which sailed 10 p. m. and arrived at Le Havre at 5 the next morning. Here nurses were quartered 
at the Hotels Pretty, D'Angleterre, Bras D'Or, Terminus and Bordeaux. 

At 5 o'clock on the morning of the 16th the whole unit boarded a train in the Gare des 
Voyageurs, the nurses and officers occupying carriages and the men box-cars. Miss Grace M. 
Daly was ill and had to be carried on a stretcher from the hotel to the train. The Unit travelled 
slowly for two nights, stopping at Mantes-sur-Seine for refreshment on the afternoon of the 
15th. At 1 a. m., November 17, it arrived in Vittel ; the officers were quartered in the Hotel 
Lorraine, the nurses in the Hotel des Sports, the Villa Jean Rose and the Villa des Tilleuls 
and the men in the Grand Garage. Headquarters was established next day on the second floor 
of the Palace Hotel. On the 19th Captain Schons was assigned Ordnance Officer. 




Bclli> Isle Presentaiioii of Automobiles to Base Hospital No. 36. 
2.3 





Left Column: Street Scene in Vittel. The Rosary. Center Avenue, Vittcl Park. The Galleries Vittel. 
Right Column: The Grand Hotel. Street Scene in Vittel. The Gare J'ittel. General J'iew of Vittel. 



VITTEL 

THE story of Vittel goes far back into antiquity. It was about 1500 B. C. that Celts and 
other Gaulois fought and fused with the primitive peoples of that region. It is not un- 
likely that they formed the name Vittel from two words : Ve, habitation and Dale or Thale, river : 
Ve thale, habitations along a river. That origin is further borne out by the fact that the principal 
quarters of the village, le Bra, le Bra-Haut, Geremoy, the immediate environs of Vittel, I'Orima, 
Parey, They, and Norroy carry Celtic names. In that vicinity also have been discovered flint 
cuttings and Gaulish weapons of early origin. 

The Gauls have been described as tall, robust, and of terror-inspiring bravery. On one of 
their expeditions they were said to have captured Rome. In the course of events, however, Gaul 
was itself conquered by the Romans under Julius Caesar. The rudimentary paths of the Celts 
were replaced by a network of roads and the region of Vittel became the direct route, the grand 
thoroughfare from the Mediterranean and the Rhone to the Moselle and the Rhine. 

It is an established fact that the Romans recognized the virtues of the waters of the Grand 
Source and the Source Salee and constructed there a thermal establishment. 

During the early centuries of the Christian Era that country was overrun and devastated by 
the Franks, the Vandals, and other barbarians. As late as the 17th century Swedes burned Vittel 
and left only 60 inhabitants. In the next century, however, the people of that locality began again 
to use the water of the Source de Geremoy in preference to all others. That thing became known 
to M. Louis Bouloumie, a Toulousain advocate, who obtained possession of it and the authority to 
exploit it medicinally in 1855. At his death in 18?0 his two sons, Ambroise, also an advocate, and 
Pierre, Surgeon-Major, took up and developed the work begun by their father. In 1884 was 
foimded the General Society of the Mineral Waters. Upon the death of Ambroise in 1903, his 
son. Dr. Jean Bouloumie, assumed the directorship of the Society. The Grand Source and later 
the Source Salee were artistically housed ; a hydro-therapeutic institution established, with all 
modern appointments ; platforms, halls and galleries constructed for social concourse ; the park 
with paths, trees and rose gardens laid out and a Casino with its opera and gaming rooms built 
and withal several Hotels to accommodate the increasing number of people who gathered annually 
in the spring and summer to take the cure. 

Within thirty years a new and elegant city was built around the spring, a kilometer from 
the old town and separated from it by the railroad. After encircling the foot hills of Chatillon 
it climbed the side of I'Orima to the other slope of the valley of the Vair. The intervening 
space was filled in with as many as 18 grand new hotels, a large bottling works to supply the 
export demand for the far-famed water, tennis courts, race track, and a golf course. 

The spring of 1914 opened in the foot hills of the Vosges, along the valley of the Vair, a 
glorious prospect of beautiful days. Surrounded by noble forests and bathed in the purest ozone 
the builders' and artists' work welcomed the thermal season. The fame of its waters and the 
attractions of that gem of summer resorts brought crowds of visitors from east and west, north 
and south. In the midst of all that gaiety a blast was heard, the concourse dispersed and the men. 
young and old, hastened to the front. The safety of France was at stake. The entire world 
became involved in the maelstrom of war and three years later that group of warriors, known as 
Base Hospital 36, like Ulysses of old, voyaged from Detroit in the far west and landed in beautiful 
Vittel. 

There had been rumors of our destination but where we were, after 43 hours from Le Havre 
and 23 days from Detroit, we knew not until the voice of Major Floyd cried, "Get out!" Then 



we learned that we had stopped at midnight between the two towns. Some of us found warmth 
and comfort and rest in the Lorraine, others in a garage, while the nurses welcomed the hospital- 
ity of the Sports Hotel. 

During the next fortnight we wandered through the streets, the paths of the park and the 
lanes of the old town. We saw eagerly the large summer hotels, the shops, the beautiful vistas 
through the trees and drank to satiety of the Grand Source and du vin ordinaire. 

In due time the Central, the Palace, Ceres, the Sources and the Park Hotels were assigned 
to our unit to make ready to receive the sick and wounded from the front. 

F. B. Walker. 



^ Strasbourg loom. 




American Front Line. 



PREPARATION 

For the first few days there were little work and few military formations. The men ate at 
the French mess in the Hotel Terminus. Major Rolfe Floyd, M. R. C, offered the Command- 
ing Officer of 36 his choice between two sets of buildings, the other of which should be occu- 
pied later by Base Hospital 23, and took over the Hotels Palace, Ceres and des Sources, which 
had previously been French army hospitals and were ceded to the Americans by the French 
Government, the Hotel Central, the Casino, the Villas Double, des Sports, des Tilleuls, Jean Rose, 
Lorima, des Essarts, des Carelles and la Prele, the Grand Garage, the Garage Jeanne d'Arc, the 
old Bottling Works and the Ice Plant, which were leased or subleased from their respective own- 
ers. On November 22 the officers moved into the Villas Lorima, des Essarts, des Carelles and 
la Prele and about the same time Headquarters was moved to the Villa Double, where the Com- 
manding Officer, Medical Director, the Adjutant, the Chaplain, the Quartermaster, the Chief 
Nurse, the Registrar, the Transportation Department and the printer established their offices. 
Sergeant Sweeney and Mrs. Bishop took charge of the Registrar's Office and Receiving Station. 
Miss Havey succeeded Miss Abramson as Assistant Chief Nurse. Captain Smith and Lieuten- 
ant East were detailed on the 23rd as Assistants to the Quartermaster and Sergeant Helfenstein 
on the 24th. Captain Smith took charge of the mess, Lieutenant East of the Transportation 
Department and Sergeant Halfenstein of the Medical Supply Department, which, together with 
the Quartermaster's warehouse, was established at that time in the Grand Garage. Lieutenant 
Harris received,, after his arrival in Vittel, a Captain's commission which had been sent him on 
November 2. 

The Hotels Central, Ceres, Palace and des Sources were designated respectively as Hos- 
pitals A, B, C and D and were givtn the complimentary names of Detroit Commandery Hos- 
pital, Detroit College of Medicine Hospital, Alexander Lewis Hospital and Macomb County Hos- 
pital. Major Shurly became Chief of Staff of A, a head and contagious disease hospital for 
American soldiers, with a capacity of three hundred and thirty beds ; Major Walker of B, a 
surgical hospital for Americans, with a capacity of three hundred and sixty-three beds ; Major 
Barrett of C, a surgical hospital for French wounded, with a capacity of three hundred and 
fifty-eight beds; and- Major Berry of D, also a surgical hospital for French wounded, with a 
capacity of four hundred beds. During the last days of November the work was begun of get- 
ting the Central, Ceres and Palace ready for use : the buildings were cleaned and beds moved in ; 
furniture and utensils were taken over from the owners and chemical supplies from the French 
Government. 

On November 30 Miss Daly, whom it had been found impracticable to treat at Vittel, was 
sent to Base Hospital 15 at Chaumont, where she remained until January 14. 

December 1 Majors Shurly and Walker were ordered to secure transportation equipment of 
the unit at St. Nazaire. These gifts were all secured and sent to the base. Majors Shurly and 
Walker were ordered to make a trip of inspection and observation of base hospitals. Hospitals 
were visited at St. Nazaire, Saveney, Angers, Bordeaux, Limoges, Chatereaux, Paris, Rouen 
and Chaumont and later at Dijon and Basvilles. 

DECEMBER 

On December 1, Lieutenants Raynale, Downer, Stafford, Woolston and Harris and Mrs. 
Lohr and Misses Abramson, Bach, Duncan, Gano, Hine, Margaret MacDonald, Medhurst, 
Moran, Pailca, and Thompson left, on special duty, for the headquarters of the 47th Division at 
Vaucouleurs, where they were attached to the 168th Field Hospital at Chateau Chalaine. Misses 
Bach, Duncan, Gano, Hine, Moran, Pailca, Thompson and Mrs. Lohr and Lieutenants Downer, 
Harris and Woolston returned to Vittel on December 19, but the rest stayed until the 23rd. 




Left Column: Statute of Mr. Bouloumie, Vittel. Avenue A mboise Boiiloumie Vittel. Rue dc la Gave. Rue de la Gare. 
Right Column: Villas Near Golf Course. Tcnn is Courts. Golf Club House. Viczv of Park Vittel. 




Hotel Lorraine 



Vittcl Casino. 



On December 2nd, Sergeant Pugh and Privates Allen, Askam, Bradley, J. Campbell, Chris- 
tensen. Dill, Foster, R. George, D. Gilbert, R. Gilbert, Green, Harnden, Hensell, G. Kelly, S. Kelly. 
Klingman, Kramer, McDonald, Montie, Reason, Ripley, West and Williams were transferred for 
temporary duty to Base Hospital 15, where Sergeant Pugh worked in the Receiving Office and 
the rest of the men chiefly as orderlies. On December 4th, Misses Geierman, Arkell, Caldwell, 
Cavan, Headley and Stahl followed the men to Chaumont. 

On December 5th, Major Berry and Lieutenant Warren were ordered on special duty to 
Casualty Clearing Station No. 23 at Ytres, and on the 27th returned to Vittel. 

On the 14th, Major Barrett and Lieutenant Stone were ordered to British Casualty Clearing 
Station No. 49 at Achet-la-Grande, where they arrived on the 17th and spent a week. They then 
moved to British Ambulance 136 and returned to Vittel on the 1st of January. 

On the 30th, Captains Matthews and Randall, Lieutenant Fay and Miss McCaw, Miss 
Keyes, Miss Davidson and Miss Martha MacDonald were ordered to report for special duty to 
Lieutenant-Colonel William L. Keller, M. C, at the Ris-Orangis American Surgical Hospital. 
Here, from the 21st to the 27th, they studied fractures and the Carrel-Dakin method of treating 
infected wounds, returning to Vittel on the 30th of December. 

On the 24th, Lieutenant Davis Spangler reported for duty to take charge of the Registry 
Department and instruct the men in the work connected with it. He left on January 25th. On 
December 8th, the Central received its first patients, one hundred and thirty Americans, suffer- 
ing chiefly from mumps and measles. The hospital stafif was organized with Captain Haughey 
in charge, Lieutenants Weaver, VanRhee, Gaines, Shankwiler and Collins, Miss Davidson as 
Head Nurse, Miss Hammond in charge of the supply room and Sergeant Harrigan, N. C. O., in 
charge. On the 12th the Palace, with Captain Fay, Lieutenants Woolston, Stone and Downer, 
Miss Reid as Head Nurse and Sergeant Otter, non-commissioned officer, in charge, began to re- 
ceive patients. 

On the 13th, work was begun in the Bacteriological Laboratory, which was established 
on the first and then on the second floor of the Ceres. The X-ray Laboratory, also on the first 
floor of the Ceres, began receiving patients on the 37th. These rooms were equipped with a Snook 
fluoroscopic machine and a radiographic table. Afterwards, another Snook table was installed at 
the Central, a table and fluoroscopic machine rented from the French at the Palace and a radio- 
graphic table, also rented from the French, at the Sources. Captain Clift directed both labora- 
tories, putting Captain Sill at the head of the bacteriological work and taking charge of the X-ray 
work himself. The personnel of the former consisted of Lieutenant Fay and Valentine Joe, with 
the later addition of Pvt. John Anderson; and of the latter of Lieutenant Scrafiford and Pvt. 
David O. Hamilton, with the later additions of Pvts. Avon D. Adams and Clair D. Reason. 



The Dental Office, with Lieutenant East, Lieutenant Hosmer and Sergeant Baker, began to 
receive patients on the 31st. It occupied three rooms on the first floor of the Central and was 
equipped with two Columbia chairs. 

During the month of December, eight hundred and ninety-five American patients and one 
French civilian were received by 36. Of these five died; on the 16th, Private Bryant F. Dutton, 
Company E, 167th Infantry, of general peritonitis following an operation for acute appendicitis ; 
on the 19th, Private Floyd B. Diamond, Headquarters Train, 42nd Division, of lobar pneumonia 
embolic ; on the 21st, Private John J. DuBlanc, Truck Company 2, 117th Supply Train, of pneu- 
monia ; on the 23rd, Private Henry C. Wade, Company C, 167th Infantry, of pneumonia ; on the 
31st, Private Chester Malley, Company I, 166th Infantry, of pneumonia. These were all buried 
in the Vittel cemetery in a plot of ground taken over from the town by the American Government. 

On December 1st, the men began having their own mess in Hospital D, where the whole 
personnel ate, until the other hospitals were opened and could provide for their own personnels; 
and on the 9th a Recreation Room was opened opposite the Mess Hall. On the 17th the barracks 
were moved to the Salle fie Baccarat of the Casino and the Grand Garage was turned into a 
Quartermaster's warehouse. 

On the 19th, Base Hospital 23, from Bufifslo, arrived in Vittel and took over the Hotels 
Terminus, D'Angleterre, Continental, Nouvel and Lorrain. 

During December the following promotions were made : December 1, Aukstikalnis, Coquoz, 
and Wilson, Cooks; Meissner, Corporal; Biber, Beach, Benton, Cashmore, Christensen, Derzai, 
Dougherty, Fitch, Goodrich, Grist, Hackett, Herbst, Jones, Johnston, Mason, R. Norton, F. Norton, 
H. Phillips, Varion, Wood, Conway, Honey, Joe, McGillicuddy, Medcalfe, Noble, Rau, Wheeler, 
Blanchard, Privates First Class; December 3, Havey and Harrigan, Sergeants; Cline, Corporal; 
December 4, Cogan, Private, First Class ; December 6, Milroy, Corporal ; December 7, Cordes, 
Corporal ; December 14, Bogue, Dougherty and Sewell, Acting Sergeants ; December 15, Barnett, 
Acting Sergeant. On the 13th Captain McGraw was assigned Assistant Property Officer and on 
the 16th Lieutenant Hosmer, Fire Marshal. 



Christmas 1917 

On Christmas eve after the custom of the English waits there was carol singing in Hospitals 
A and C by several enlisted men and nurses led by Miss Hammond with her 'Cello, the patients 
eagerly listening in 'the darkened wards and corridors. On Christmas Day there was a religious 
service, with the singing of carols and Holy Communion, well attended by officers, nurses and 
enlisted men. In the afternoon at Hospital A a small Christmas tree was set up, a Victrola played 
Christmas carol tunes, a recitation was given by Army Nurse Ferguson, and a short address by 
the Chaplain, followed by a distribution of Red Cross gifts. This programme was repeated at 
Hospital C. At the two hospitals 500 gifts were distributed to more than 200 patients. 

Christmas Night the Officers and nurses were hosts and hostesses at a dance in Hospital 
B to the officers and nurses of the newly arrived Base Hospital 23. Refreshments were served 
and the Jazz Band helped make the occasion a very enjoyable "get acquainted" party. 




Trimming Christmas Trc 



Nurses Red Cross Hut. 



JANUARY, 1918 

On January 1, Captain Fay and Lieutenant Sackrider proceeded on special duty to British 
Casualty Clearing Station No. 21, near Cambrai, where they observed and performed surgical 
operations for twelve days. After this, Captain Fay moved to a Field Dressing Station at 
Hermes and Lieutenant Sackrider to an Evacuation Hospital at Bus. They both returned on the 
20th to Vittel. 

On the 10th, Major Phillips started on a tour of observation with the British Expeditionary 
Force. He remained for some tirpe at Poperinge in Belgium at Casualty Clearing Station No. 
62 and returned to Vittel on February 9. 

On the 13th, the Ceres began to receive patients. The personnel included Captain Randall, 
Lieutenant Staflford, Lieutenant Raynale, Lieutenant Adams, Miss Valentine as Head Nurse and 
Sergeant Sessions, N. C. O., in charge. 

During the month of January seven hundred and sixty-four American soldiers and six 
French civilians were received by 36. Of these three died : on the 5th, Private William J. Cum- 
ming. Ambulance Company 103, 36th Division, of meningitis, measles and an operation for mas- 
toiditis ; on the 16th, Sergeant Frank M. Pickens, Base Hospital 31, of septicemia of lung with 
abscess ; and on the 33rd, Private First Class Frederick L. Curtiss, Company C, 101st Field Sg. 
Bn., of frontal sinusitis with complications. 

On the 10th, Private Edward E. Ayott, Headquarters Company, 103rd Infantry, nineteen 
years old, was admitted to Hospital A. According to the history of the case, the patient was 
struck by a one pound gun in the right parietal region at 3 :30, January 8. For an hour and a 
half he remained unconscious. The wound was dressed at a nearby hospital, from which the 
patient walked to his billet. After sitting up for a few minutes, he went to bed. His head ached 
all over and he vomited twice during the night, sleeping but poorly. ,The next night he was taken 
to a Lieutenant's room, where he could not eat or sleep. From there he was moved to a Field 
Hospital and then to Neufchateau. At the latter place he had two convulsions and after his ad- 
mission to 36, several more. 

He came under the care of Major Shurly, who diagnosed the case as one of skull fracture 
with possible pressure from blood clot. The fracture was confirmed by X-ray examination. 
Trephining was performed on January 14 by Major Walker, assisted by Major Shurly, Captain 
Haughey and by Lieutenant Gaines as Anesthetist. A tongue flap was made over the left Ro- 
landic area, a button of bone removed when an extra dural clot presented. The dura showed 
a mottled appearance, indicating the presence of subdural hemorrhage. Accordingly the dura was 
incised, a moderate sized blood clot removed, flat rubber drainage inserted and the wound closed. 



Drainage was removed within forty-eight hours. The patient made an uninterrupted and com- 
plete recovery and at the end of three months returned to duty. 

On January 1st, the nurses began having their own mess in the des Sports and the Quarter- 
master's warehouse was removed from the Grand Garage to the Old Bottling Works. On the 
9th, Mr. John Carlisle, of the Y. M. C. A., and Miss Porter, of the Y. W. C. A., arrived to do 
recreation and welfare work. A Y. M. C. A. reading room and canteen was opened at the Galeries 
and on January 13 the first Sunday evening meeting was held. 

On the 14th, the Officers' Medical Society was organized for the purpose of discussing obser- 
vations at the front and interesting clinical cases. Originally composed of officers from 36, it 
was afterwards made to include officers from 23, 31 and 32. The Society met on Monday even- 
ings in the Medical Library of the Central. 

On the 15th, Sergeant First Class Erskine was commissioned First Lieutenant, Sanitary Corps, 
National Army, and on the 22nd was assigned to duty as Assistant Adjutant. 

On the 25th, Captain G. Hunter Brown, permanent representative of the American Red Cross, 
arrived to take charge of Red Cross work in Units 36 and 23. 

On the 27th, General Mason M. Patrick, in charge of the construction of all hospital build- 
ings in France, accompanied by General Taylor, inspected 36. 

FEBRUARY 

On February 4th, the six nurses who had been sent to Chaumont returned to Vittel and on 
the 8th the men followed them. 

On the 19th, Lieutenant Hosmer proceeded to the Army Sanitary School as student officer 
in the Dental Section. He came baqk on the 9th of March. 

On the 12th, the Sources began to receive patients, with Major Berry in command and a 
personnel including Captain Matthews, Lieutenants Warren, Sackrider and McArthur, Miss 
Baker as Head Nurse and Sergeant Pugh. 

During the month of February, we received three hundred and twelve American soldiers, one 
hundred and one French soldiers and four French civilians. Of these two died : on the 17th, 
Private Joseph C. Wellwood, 104th Field Hospital, 26th Division, of scarlet fever, mastoiditis 
and acute nephritis ; and on the 18th, Private Jack Yuill, Base Hospital 36, of lobar pneumonia. 
Yuill was buried on the 20th, after an appropriate service in the English Chapel and an impress- 
ive funeral attended by all the members of 36 arid a detachment from 23. 

On the 9th, the Medical Supply Department, which had moved its offices and warehouse from 
the Grand Garage to the Old Bottling Works, began business in the latter. 

On the 18th, General Pershing visited Vittel and inspected 36 and 23. Drill was begun the 
following week and was held in the park, under the command of Lieutenants Raynale and 
Smith. 

On the 25th, the Red Cross took over a one hundred acre farm for the benefit of the hos- 
pitals. Lieutenant C. M. L. Clark, of the American Red Cross, came to direct this work. 

During February, the following promotions were made : on the 12th, Sergeant First Class 
Brown, who had previously been in charge of the Sources, became Acting Sergeant Major in the 
Adjutant's Office. On the 19th, Corporals Backus and Buchanan, Privates First Class Blanchard, 
Cashmore, Goodrich, Honey, Dougherty and Varion and Privates Joslyn, Peterson, Bogue and 
Barnett were appointed Sergeants ; Privates First Class Ciliax, Cummings, Mason and Wheeler 
and Private Davis, Corporals ; and Private Ewald, Bain, Bayne and Hamilton, Cooks. 

On the 25th, Miss Hammond took charge of the French civilian employees, with an office in 
the Headquarters building. 

MARCH 

On March 8, Captain Metcalf, M. R. C, reported for duty and was assigned to the Ceres. 
On the 9th, Miss Havey, Miss Valentine, Miss Baker and Miss Reed left for . Compiegne, 



where they spent two weeks at the Carrel-Dakin Hospital and Hospital Benevole. While they 
were there, both hospitals were bombed by German aeroplanes. 

On the 10th, Privates Mikey A. Brosch, William J. McKelvy, John T. Begley, William J. 
McManus and Anthony Dolan, Company B, 26th Engineers, were assigned for repair work, etc. 
On the 14th, Lieutenant Grimes, S. C., and Lieutenant Edward Jelks, M. R. C, were as- 
signed to 36. Lieutenant Grimes was detached on the 2oth. Lieutenant Jelks was assigned to 
the Ceres and detached on April 30. 

On the 25th, Miss McGlynn was discharged for illness and two weeks later sailed for the 
United States. 

On the 27th, Private First Class Ferris H. Fitch, who on the 20th had been commissioned 
2nd Lieutenant, Q. M. C, was ordered to Tours 

On the 29th, Lieutenant L. D. Cheney, M. R. C, reported for duty and was assigned to the 
Ceres. He was detached on April 30. 

On the 31st, Lieutenant East proceeded to the Army Sanitary School, observing the work in 
the Dental Department. 

During the month of March, four hundred and eighty-nine American soldiers, ninety French 
soldiers, five French civilians and nineteen Italians were received by 36. Of these one died : on 
the 18th, Private Hugh L. Gibson, Company H, 23rd Infantry, of acute lobar pneumonia. 

On the 4th, Captain McGraw was appointed Major and relieved from duty as Adjutant, 
Lieutenant Erskine being assigned Adjutant. Major McGraw then was appointed Chief of Medi- 
cal Service and Commander of Hospital E, formerly the Hotel du Pare, which had been leased 
from the proprietor and in which work had been going on since the first of the month. On the 
9th, Captain Smith became Supply Officer and Major McGraw was relieved of that duty. On 
the 16th, Captain Randall took Major Shurly's place as Chief of Staff of the Central and Major 
Shurly, moving his office to the Headquarters building, devoted all his time to his duties as 
Medical Director, and surgeon to the Ear, Nose and Throat Department. 

On the 15th, Sergeant First Class Sweeney was commissioned First Lieutenant, Sanitary 
Corps, National Army, and became Registrar of the Unit. 

On the 23rd, Sergeant Fowler was appointed Sergeant First Class. 

Private First Class Robert Mater, Battery A, 149th Field Artillery, twenty-one years old, 
was admitted to Hospital B on March 19. He gave the history of a gunshot wound of the right 
leg by a fragment of enemy explosive shell received on March 11. At the time of admission his 
wounds were very septic and the transverse wounds on lateral surfaces communicated posterially to 
the bones of the leg in the calf and were large enough to admit the whole hand. The posterior 
tibial artery and main nerve trunks were divided and portions lost. Carrel tubes were inserted 
and Dakin solution used. 

On April 3rd, on account of the extension of the suppurative process due to faulty nutrition 
and nerve loss, incision and further drainage was made. The patient's condition continued to 
deteriorate. Suppuration followed the planes, bed sores and sloughs developed lower down in the 
leg and foot so that amputation was performed on May 3, four inches below the knee by the Guil- 
lotine method. 

Recovery followed. The patient gathered rapidly in strength and weight and in short time 
was doing convalescent duty. 

APRIL 
On April 8th, Private First Class William C Curtis, and on April 10th, Private First Class 
Norman Israel, both X-ray technicians, reported for duty and were assigned to the X-ray labora- 
tory. Private Israel was detached on May 8th and Private Curtis on May 25th. 

On April 12th, Lieutenants Font and Fay and Private First Class Joe left on detached service 
for Epernay, where they received special instruction in wound bacteriology, under Captain A. 
Policard, of the French Army. They returned to Vittel on the 26th. 

On the 18th, Major McGraw and Captains Randall and Harris left on detached service for 



Paris to attend a meeting of the Society for Medical Research organized by the American Red 
Cross. They returned on the 32nd. 

On the 28th, Lieutenants Downer, Gaines, McArthur, Stone, Weaver, Woolston and Stafford 
left on detached service, reporting to the Headquarters of the 32nd Division, where Lieutenant 
Downer was attached to the 128th Infantry at St. Ulrich, Lieutenant Gaines to the 126th Infantry 
at Soppe-les-Bas, Lieutenant McArthur to the 125th Infantry at Sentheim, Lieutenant Stone to 
the 128th Ambulance Company, Lieutenant Weaver to the 127th Ambulance Company, Lieutenant 
Woolston to the 126th Ambulance Company and Lieutenant Stafford to the 125th Ambulance 
Company. All these Ambulance Companies had their headquarters at Denny. Lieutenant Downer 
returned on May 30, Lieutenants Gaines, Stone, Weaver, Woolston, and Stailord on July 1. 

On the 29th, Major Barrett left for detached service with Evacuation Hospital No. 1 at 
Sebastapol, returning May 14. 

On the 30th, Captain Clift was detached from 36 and became an instructor in radiography to 
newly-arrived medical officers with Major P. M. Hickey in the Roentgenological Department at 
Paris. Lieutenant Scrafiford took charge of the X-ray laboratories from this time on. 

During April, ninety American soldiers, one French soldier and two French civilians were 
received. On the 21st, Private First Class Harvey A. McPeak, Battery C, 151st Field Artillery, 
died of pleuro-pneumonia. 

On the 3rd, Hospital E, a medical hospital for American soldiers, formerly the Hotel du Pare, 
was opened with a reception for nurses and officers and on the ?th began to receive patients. 
The personnel included Major T. A. McGraw, as C. O., and Lieutenants Collins and VanRhee, 
Miss Virtue as Head Nurse, and Sergeant Blanchard as N. C. O., in charge. 

On the 4th, the Commissary Department was moved to the Grand Garage and consolidated 
with the Commissary Departments of Units 23, 31 and 33, under Captain J. P. Glandon, Q. M., 
R. C. 

On the 1st, the following promotions were made : Private First Class Bear and Privates 
Girod, Harper and Tucker to the rank of Cooks ; and Privates Adams, Carlin, Carpenter, Delisle, 
Foster, Gauthier, Giroux, D. O. Hamilton, Harrison, Hyde, Gerald F. Kelly, Sherman F. Kelly, 
Klingman, Raymond Lyons, Marks, Melville, Merriman, Nash, O'Neil, Goddie Phillips, Pinnegar, 
Scott, Seeber, Stanley Sessions, Singer, Sitter, Smart, Smedley, Smith, Tanner, Skeen Wallace, 
West and Wild to the rank of Privates First Class. 

MAY 

On May 7th, Miss Arkell, Miss Blackwell, Miss Crane, Miss Dwyer, Mrs. Malone, Miss 
Stahl, Miss Caldwell and Miss Moran left on special duty for the Headquarters of the 42nd Divi- 
sion. They were distributed at Baccarat among the hospitals, some of which were shelled by 




Street Scene, Vittel. 
35 



the Germans. Mrs. Malone returned on July 2, Miss Caldwell, ill, on July 5, Miss Crane, ill, on 
July 13, and the others on July 23. 

On the 11th, Captain Carlton Russell, M. R. C, reported for duty and was assigned to Hos- 
pital A. 

On the 15th, Majors Shurly, Walker and Berry and on the 16th, Major McGraw, left on 
detached service for Paris, where they attended a meeting of the Society of Medical Research, 
returning to Vittel the 19th. 

On the 28th, Captain Randall, Sergeant Kramer, Privates First Class O'Neil, Sitter and 
Nash and Privates Mack and Schuyler went on detached service to Evacuation Hospital No. 2 at 
Baccarat and on the next day Major McGraw, Privates Cleary, Ireland, McDonald, Montie, 
Rogers, J. Wallace, Hal F. Wright and William F. Wright and Miss Cornes, Miss Douglas, 
Miss Gilmore, Miss Headly, Miss Jefferson, Miss Keating, Miss Keyes, Miss Margaret Mac- 
Donald, Miss Medhurst and Miss Roll followed them, all reporting at the Headquarters of the 
42nd Division, Evacuation Hospital No. 2. On the 29th, Captain Randall and Private First Class 
Nash returned to Vittel and on the 30th Pvt. Askam was substituted for W. F. Wright. On the 
same day the nurses who had left on the 28th and Privates Carlin, O'Neil, Sitter, Askam, Rogers, 
Schuyler, Cleary, H. F. Wright and Montie returned. These frequent detachments to Baccarat 
were necessitated by many German gas attacks, which crippled the Field Hospitals on this part of 
the front. 

During May, four hundred and forty-four American soldiers, two hundred and five French 
soldiers, seven French civilians and three Italian soldiers were received. One French soldier, 
Private Sebastien Mouches, 117th Battery, 175th Regiment, Trench Artillery, died of general 
peritonitis, and one French civilian died of senility. 

On the 1st, Miss Keel succeeded Miss Ruetz in charge of the nurses' quarters. 

From the first of the month entertainments were held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday 
in the Casino theatre, under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A. As a rule, there were moving 
pictures twice a week and on the third day some other kind of entertainment. 

On the 5th, a baseball team, organized by 36, with Lieutenant Hosmer as manager and 
George West as Captain, played the first of a series of Saturday afternoon games, in which they 
defeated Unit 31's baseball team with a score of 4 to 1. They afterwards played Units 15, 23, 
66, 116 and 32, Evacuation Hospital 6, Company F of the 161st Infantry and other organizations. 

On the 10th, Privates Kramer and Kennedy were appointed Sergeants. 



1 ff 1 f i[ n n 


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Dcs S{<orls Hotel. 
36 



MAY 30, 1918 

Tribute to the memory of the brave lads, American and French? who gave their lives for the 
cause of the Allies, was rendered fittingly by the Americans in Vittel May 30. Our first Mem- 
orial Day in France will be remembered as an occasion when the full significance of that great day 
was deeply felt. Out in the little cemetery beyond the limits of the town, a monument had been 
erected to mark the resting place of Jack Yuill, first of the personnel of Base Hospital 36 to leave 
the ranks. The dedication of this monument was an important event in the day's program. It 
is a handsome stone column appropriately inscribed. Forming on the parade ground at 10 a. m. 
officers and men of Base Hospitals 36 and 23 and of the Graves Registration Service Unit No. 
304, marched to the cemetery where they were joined by the nurses of the two hospitals. In the 
parade were detachments of French "Poilus" and British "Tommies" convalescent, accompanied 
by British and French officers from the Officers Hospital, Hotel de Lorraine. The program was 
opened with a prayer by Chaplain W. D. Maxon, following which Major Burt R. Shurly, of 
Unit 36, spoke. Captain Gazet, attached to the hospital center by the French army, replied in be- 
half of our comrades in horizon blue. Following a verse of "America" a volley was fired and 
taps was sounded, the far-ofif echo of that memorial taps coming from the distance, faint but 
clear, as from the land of the dear dead now raised to life eternal. The graves of all the soldiers, 
French, American, English and Algerian were decorated by the nurses and three little French 
girls put on the American graves, flowers they had gathered in the fields and the ceremony was 
concluded. 

June 1918 

During the month Majors Phillips and Shurly received their reward for efficient service 
by promotion to the grade of Lieut. Colonel. We are glad to see the silver leaves adorning 
their shoulders. On June 1st we received our first consignment of wounded British Tommies. 
Three hundred and thirty-eight arrived this morning together with about a hundred Americans. 
Many were in very bad condition when received, and it was necessary for the operating rooms 
of Hospitals B and D to work day and night until June 3rd in order to care for them. Chap- 
lain Maxon held a service of patriotic welcome to the British on June 2nd, in Hospital B. It 
was a very inspiring service. On June 6th the first British soldier to die was buried with ap- 
propriate services. Six convalescent Tommies acted as pall bearers, flowers and flags being 
contributed by the American Red Cross. At the request of the British patients a Thanksgiving 
service was held in the English Chapel by Chaplain Maxon. America and God Save the King 
were sung in unison by American and British soldiers. 

Sergeant Otter, working in conjunction with Lieut. Hardy of Base 23, has reorganized the 
band. Several new pieces have been added and we look forward to some good music this sum- 
mer. 

Patients in the Base Hospital now number 724. 

The results of base ball games played this month were as follows : 

Base 36—9, Base 116—5. June 2nd. 

Base 36 — 6. Evac. Hosp. — 4. June 9th. 

Base 36—3. Co. M 116 Inf.— 0. June 16th. 

July, 1918 

Sergeant Harry George was placed in charge of all Motor Transportation in the newly con- 
solidated Hospital Center, including Base Hospitals 23, 31, 32, 36. This consolidation of the 
four hospitals under the command of Lieut. Col. G. V. Rukke, greatly facilitates the functioning 
of these units. Many departments have been merged. Capt. Schons, formerly our Quartermas- 
ter, is now Finance Officer for the Center and Roberge and Ray Lyons have been detached 
for duty with him. Sergeant Havey has been placed in charge of all Electrical work of the Cen- 
ter. His excellent work in installing a telephone system for the four hospitals connecting all 
buildings and offices is being recognized. 




Catholic Church Vittcl. 








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Parade, Another View. 



Vittel was the scene of great festivities on July 4th. Base 33 joined us with a huge parade 
of the entire personnel, led by the newly organized Post Band. Addresses were made by both 
French and American ofificers. A Proclamation was issued by the Mayor calling upon the French 
Civilians to honor the day. The hitherto Championship Base Ball team of 36 went down to a 
hard fought defeat at the hands of Base 33. Great preparations were made for a victory — but 
alas ! Our team, however, turned around and defeated the 33rd Engineers 5 to 3. The Officers' 
Club held open house for the day, and there were big doings under the auspices of the Red 
Cross. Altogether, it was a great day. 

On July 7th Lieutenant Arthur McArthur was gassed while on duty with the 125th Infantry 
as Medical Officer. He was removed to Base Hospital 17 at Dijon and later returned to 36 
fully recovered. 

July 14th was another day of parade, feast and ceremony. It was the French National 
Day. Impressive services were held in the town hall and cemetery, honoring the fallen, French. 
Graves of all the allied dead were decorated. July 31 brings us over 500 patients — French and 
American — together with good news of the Allied successes on the Western Front. We are 
looking forward to the end and "home." Private Fred C. Magnan was today transferred to the 
Telegraph Batt. of the Signal Corps. 

Sergeant Charles F. Brown was promoted to the grade of First Lieut. Sanitary Corps and 
has been assigned Mess Officer, relieving Major A. B. Smith, who will hereafter assume charge 
of the X-Ray Department of Hospital D. Brown's friends are all glad to see this well de- 
served promotion. Private Rolla Carpenter received commission as 2nd Lieut. Quartermaster 
Corps and is receiving congratulations all around. Sergeant "Tony" Helfenstein was trans- 
ferred to Medical Supply Depot No. 3, somewhere near Paris. He always was lucky. 

An additional twenty-five men were added to our i:)ersonnel and will help out considerably 
in relieving the strain of ever increasing hard work. Patients in hospital at the end of this 
month number 3,597. 

Base Ball scores this month — 

Base 31—6. Base 36—3. 

August, 1918 

Patients recovering from their wounds are about to stage something original to relieve their 
life of ennui. Band concert and gang singing preceded some very good boxing bouts on the 
evening of the 3rd. It was a great party and from the expressions going around it will be re- 
peated in the near future. The bouts were staged on the band stand in the park and the audi- 
ence was made up of everyone who could walk, among which were French, English, Senegalese, 
Arabs, Italians, Canadians, New Zealanders and two American Indians, patients in Hospital E. 
On the 30th, Sunday, a large black plane flew over Vittel so low that it was a speculation whether 
it would clear the tree tops. The occupants waved a friendly greeting. It proved to be an 
Italian plane that had been captured by the Germans. In passing over the line they failed to 
respond to signals and were brought down by anti air craft guns. They had a full set of photo- 
graphs of this vicinity and we felt pretty lucky that they were brought down. The A. R. C. 
opened the bath houses in the galleries on the 25th for general use, and it was a godsend, for 
bath tubs have been at a premium and it was necessary to make a date days in advance to be 
able to keep decently clean. The Red Cross Hut was opened officially on August 31, with a 
large dance. Many out of town "guests" were on the job. 

September, 1918 

St. Mihiel fell under the terrible drive by the Americans and French, and we are receiving 
our full share of patients. We have handled an average, of 600 patients daily from September 
14 to 18 — all beds, cots and every available space filled. 

Lt. Col. Phillips received orders to-day, the 15th, to report to headquarters of the Medical 
Department at Chaumont for duty. Everyone will miss him, for no one was more loved or re- 




Vertou 
On Board Rijndam. 
Liverpool Harbor, 
of Bath Establishment, Vittel. 



Eh Route 
Our Mascot, the Goat, Detroit. 
Liverpool Harbor. 
Cafe in Vittel Park. 



spected. Lt. Col. Shurly becomes Commanding Officer. Received advices to-day that we vifere 
to function as an Evacuation Hospital. Everyone working day and night. 

Captain George Fay, Captain A. B. Smith, and Captain H. E. Randall were commissioned 
Majors M. C. 

Capt. Burroughs, of Base Hospital 23, died of pneumonia on the 18th. He is the first offi- 
cer to be taken, and had a great many friends in the Center. Impressive services were held on 
the following day, members of all units participating. 

On the 25th a number of "Christmas" boxes arrived — little the worse for the slight delay 
of ten months. This month finds over 3,000 patients in the hospital. 

October, 1918 

News comes that the Germans are seeking an Armistice, but the rumors are being discount- 
ed. However, it makes a good story and coupled with the news of the advances being made 
by the Allies shows us a bright spot — the first real one for four years. 

The Unit is in mourning today, the 18th, for Cook George Wilson, who died of pneumonia. 
Sergeant 1st Class Charles E. Bohn followed him on the 18th, taken by the same disease. Ap- 
propriate funeral services were held on the 19th, when both men were buried in the American 
Cemetery. On October 27th Joseph Derzai died following operation. It has been a sad month 
for us. 

October 25th marks the first anniversary of our leaving the Fair Grounds in Detroit. We 
are more anxious to get back to the Ford City than we were to leave it one year ago — and that 
was "some." 

November, 1918 

Both the false alarm and the 'real Armistice were celebrated profusely in Vittel. The bars 
were down for the day. We were back in our school days once more celebrating a victory. 
The strain is over and no one can describe the way we all feel. We are cleaning house and 
most of the patients have been evacuated to points nearer the base to await transportation to 
the United States. A Victory Thanksgiving was appropriately celebrated throughout the post. 
Religious services were held by the different denominations. Our cooking staff surpassed them- 
selves in preparing -dinner. The fatted calves (pigs) were killed and the menu was hugely 
enjoyed by everyone. 

December, 1918 

The cleaning-up process was continued — all hospitals except B are closed and shipping of 
equipment to salvage base is being accomplished by Capt. B. R. East and the Bull Gang. All 
officers' quarters are now on the third floor of Hospital B — there to await orders to leave for 
the U. S. 

Major McGraw was promoted to the rank of Lieut. Col. and received orders to leave for 
the United States. We all envy him, and are sorry that we cannot leave with him on the 9th. 

January, 1919 

Lieut. Col. Shurly, Majors Walker, Barrett and Capt. Matthews received orders to return to 
the United States and left on the . .th with lots of messages to the folks at home. Maj. Henry G. 
Berry assumed command. These are trying days — days of "watchful waiting." Closing of build- 
ings and shipping of equipment has been accomplished and the end of this month finds us ready 
for the word "go." 

February, 1919 

We leave Vittel today, the 16th. The entire population of the town was at the station to 
see us oi¥ and our "40 Hommes 8 Chevaux" pulled out about dusk. On account of said dusk, 
many could scarcely find their way to the cars. We are traveling little more comfortably than we 
did 16 months before, but a whole lot happier. Capt. Brown, assisted by the Skipper and mess 
stafif, fitted one car as a kitchen ready to serve hot rneals enroute and we were on our way 
rejoicing. Barring a rear end collision to our train we arrived safely at Vertou and took up 
quarters to again await further orders to be on the high seas. 








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"The Lady ivith the Basket" and A'nrscs. Mislctoe Grounng on Tree. Sluirly Field. 





Recreation Room. 



Group uf Officers and Xurses. 



March, 1919 

Just "set" all month in Vertou waiting — waiting — waiting. 

April, 1919 

April 2nd was a big day. The greatest cook in the world was married. Reference is made 
in other parts of this book to the wedding, which will be remembered by everyone, including John 
H. Avalier, the victim. 

All officers except Lieut. Col. Berry, Captains Erskine and Brown and Lieut. Weaver left 
Vertou and sailed for Home. Things are looking brighter and we will probably leave within 
a short time. 

April 9th — At last we leave Vertou. After many inspections and other red tape we arrive 
at St. Nazaire and proceed to "rest" a few more days. After more inspections and much "de- 
lousing" we boarded the Good Ship Rijndam on April 13 and sailed at 1 P. M. — the greatest 
day of the "war." We landed on April 25th, at 2 P. M., after an uneventful voyage, and pro- 
ceeded to Camp Stuart, where more inspections and delousing were thrust upon us. 



May, 1919 



1st. Arrived at Camp Custer. 

2nd. Discharged. Good bye, Army. 




"> 6 All land la 




Left Column — Lunch By the Wav. Out for a Hike. Group of Convalescent Soldiers. Lunch En Route 
Right Column— Our' Post Band. The Sleuths. Vino of Vittel. On Board Ship. 




Headquarters Ba^e Hospital No. 36. 



ce of Medical Director, Base Hospital No. 36. 



Administration Base Hospital No. 36, 1918-1919 

The undersigned received telegraphic instructions from the War Department in August, 1917, 
to report to Detroit to assume command of Base Hospital No. 36. Upon my arrival there I found 
that the personnel of this hospital, consisting of 36 officers, 200 enlisted men and 100 nurses had 
been mobilized and were under canvas at the City fair grounds and that the entire equipment 
had been purchased and was properly packed and ready for shipment. 

In due time orders were received for overseas duty and the entire organization sailed for 
France October 37, 1917, arriving at Southampton November 7, 1917, and from there proceeded 
to Vittel, France, via Le Havre. 

Upon our arrival at Vittel we found that the Chief Surgeon of the American Expeditionary 
Forces had detailed Major Ralfe Floyd to precede us there and arrange for quarters and hos- 
pital buildings. Major Floyd had arranged for the occupancy of various buildings, by the unit, 
among which were five hotel buildings to be occupied as hospitals, one small hotel as quarters 
for the nurses and various other buildings for the officers and enlisted men. He had already made 
arrangements for subsisting the men with the detachment of French troops stationed there and 
the nurses at the hotel, that later became their home. The officers were quartered tem- 
porarily in another small hotel that was functioning at the time. 

The grades of the commissioned personnel had already been established by the War Depart- 
ment, the Chief Nurse appointed and an Adjutant, first sergeant, duty sergeants and cooks had 
been selected by the director — a Quartermaster and a Supply Sergeant from the Regular Army had 
been assigned. 

The first duty that presented itself was to house and provide food for the unit personnel : 
Then to prepare for general functioning as was our purpose there. The buildings placed at our 
disposal were inspected and suitable buildings for each purpose selected. There were five large 
hotels that were intended for use as hospitals, one small Villa for headquarters, a ware house for 
general medical and quartermaster supplies, one hotel for the nurses and other buildings for the 
enlisted men. The hotels (hospital buildings) were some distance apart and as it did not seem 
feasible to try to operate all of them as one hospital, each was established as a separate unit and 
so equipped. These various hotels were established as hospitals A-B-C-D and E, Base Hospital 
No. 36, and the medical property divided. The unit was established on a basis of 1000 beds but as 
the capacity of the five hotels was something like 3000 beds the original outlay of property 
proved inadequate, therefore authority was secured from the Chief Surgeon to take over from 
the French sufficient property to complete the equipment. 



Each hospital was provided with a Commanding Officer and its quota of personnel — all 
functioning under the general headquarters. Individual hospitals were required to keep 
property records, admission and discharge sheets and a Morning Report. Other records 
(such as sick and wounded) were created at the General Headquarters. 

The property of the civil hospital was placed on the top floor of the building, boarded of? 
and regular hospital property installed. Many prolilems arose but the solution in each case readily 
presented itself. 

Headquarters consisted of the Commanding Officer, Professional Director, Adjutant, Quar- 
termaster, Sick and Wounded Office, and the Chief Nurse, with the proper enlisted personnel. Each 
section has its specific duties. When a train of Sick and Wounded would arrive at the Railroad 
station, it was met by the Corps of ambulances, each with a driver and 2 orderlies, and the officer 
in charge of Sick and Wounded records. As a man left the train he was tagged with his name, 
serial number for Sick and Wounded and the hospital designation. The scheme worked entirely 
satisfactorily and of 1.5,000 patients admitted, no man was lost from the records. 

The next problem that arose was how to care for the patient, pay him, clothe him and return 
him to his outfit when ready for duty. As few service records were received in the beginning, it 
was found impossible to pay the patients. This was overcome later by authority from G. H. Q. 
to pay a man a percentage of his pay upon his statement ; pay books were suggested and vari- 
ous other methods but the service record was retained. The fact of our not being able to pay 
the men was a disturbing factor. However, the condition didn't hold for long. The failure 
to receive service records suggested that the organization commanders might not know 
where the man was, therefore Base Hospital No. 36 sent out form cards stating that: 

"Name Organization was admitted at B. H. 36, American Post Office 733 

Date and Diagnosis." 

It later became a general order throughout the American Expeditionary Forces, and I believe 
Base Hospital No. 36 was the original, in the move. 

The clothing problem arose — it did not appear possible to return a man's original clothing; 
they were often damaged, blood soaked, infected necessitating sterilization and were received in 
large amounts (convoys). In the beginning it was attempted to return a man's original clothing 
but as the system failed a slip was made out stating what the man carried in and the same was 
issued from sterilized and laundered clothing, or from the quartermaster supplies. Later, auth- 
ority was received to fully equip a man, notifying his organization, and dropping the clothing, 
This was the only feasible method, but did work a small wastage, but not in proportion to the 
amount of labor saved. Much of the clothing was infected with vermin and it was necessary to 
disinfect it before storage. This necessitated the installation of large sterilizers and the regular 
field sterilizer did excellent work : this sterilizer did the general sterilization for surgical dress- 
ings for all hospitals. As a man became fit for duty, his disposition became a question. It was 
apparent that he could not simply be marked duty, but camps of concentration must be estab- 
lished, which was done and all duty cases with records delivered there. The system was entirely 
satisfactory. 

With the exception of elevators, these hotels proved very satisfactory as hospitals. They 
had a good kitchen, dining rooms, offices, etc., and at least one large room that served well as an 
operating pavilion. They were inadequately supplied with baths, so showers were installed. All 
patients received a bath and clean clothing before being assigned to a bed. Four of the hospitals 
were designated as surgical, carrying 20 operating tables and one was designated as "Medical" 
and cared for all medical and gassed cases. This system worked exceedingly well. The unit car- 




Capt. Howard M. Erskine 
Adjutant, Base Hospital No. 36. 




Lt. Chas. F. Brown. 



Lt. John V. Sweeney. 



ried five majors other than the Commanding Officer and professional director so that each hospi- 
tal was placed under the command of officers of appropriate rank. With the exception of the 
Commanding Officer, professional director, adjutant, quartermaster and medical supply officer, 
and Chief Nurse, all at Headquarters, the personnel was distributed among the various hos- 
pitals in proportion to the bed capacity. 

Hospital "A," originally intended as a "head hospital,'' was for a time commanded by 
the professional director, but later it was turned over to Majors H. E. Randall and Wilfred 
Haughey, who proved excellent commanders. Their functioning was entirely satisfactory, and 
they carried the hospital command throughout the war. 

Hospital "B" was under the command of Major F. B. Walker, an eminent general surgeon 
and he did very excellent and exceptional work, retaining command of this hospital for the entire 
period. At one time he cared for 900 patients (all surgical), with a personnel of 5 officers, 18 
nurses and 21 Corps men, cooks included. Hospital "C" was under the command of Major C. W. 
Barrett, a surgeon of prominence from Chicago, a gynecologist by profession, but an excellent 
general surgeon as well. He proved amply equal to the job and retained command of his hospital 
throughout the war. 

Hospital "D" was commanded by Major Henry Berry, a surgeon of fame, equal to the others 
and a good general and practical man. He retained his command for the war and won credit for 
his work. 

Hospital "E," the medical hospital, was commanded by Major Theodore McGraw 
(Later Lt. Col.) and functioned exceptionally well. Major McGraw is a specialist in hib 
line and did exceptional work. He was formerly the administrative officer in the organiza- 
tion of the unit and demonstrated much good judgment, tact and common sense and the 
success of the unit was largely through his efforts. 

Captain Howard M. Erskine was selected from the enlisted personnel and given the grade of 
Captain, S. C, and detailed as adjutant of the unit. His work was excellent. From civil life, he 
was within a few months an administrative officer of great value. One of his protegees, Sergeant 
Cecil Fowler who persistently declined a commission, being interested in his work, was given com- 
plete charge of the B. W. R. I. and handled the job with complete satisfaction. To anyone who 
was in the American Expeditionary Forces in the beginning, the above statement conveys much. 

Colonel B. R. Shurly deserves much credit. He conceived, initiated and formulated the unit. 
He directed the purchase of supplies and functioned in various capacities. In the beginning he 
was the Commanding Officer, later Commanding Officer of the head Section, and finally profes- 
sional director during the regime of the undersigned and as Commanding Officer after my de- 
parture. The records of the unit stand as evidence for his good work. Colonel Shurly was 
recommended for the D. S. M. by me. It is hoped that the recommendation carried. 




Adjutants Office. Lt. Erskixe and Sergeant Fowler. 
48 



The Nurse Corps under Mrs. Betsy Harris as Chief, functioned admirably. They "won 
their spurs" as was demonstrated in Major Walker's hospital — 900 patients cared for by 18 
nurses. 

The enlisted men deserve mention. They worked diligently and intelligently. In the begin- 
ning when food and clothing were none too plentiful and the ground covered with snow these men 
carried on sometimes for 34 hours without a halt. Discipline was good, the spirit was good and 
their work excellent. The records of courts martial were negligible. There was not a single case 
of General Court-Martial in the outfit. 

Discipline was easy. The personnel was of high order and contained many specialists. It 
was easy to find the proper material for any selected position. The undersigned owes much to 
Major McGraw and Captain Erskine for assistance in the proper selection of men for special po- 
sitions. 

This hospital functioned in the normal as did other hospitals, received first hand cases, took 
care of epidemics, "Flu," diphtheria, etc., and sent to the front young men for a tour of duty, 
surgical teams, etc., with nurses and acquitted themselves with distinction always. 

It has been a source of great pleasure to me to have been associated with Base Hospital No. 
36 — Detroit. The readiness with which the personnel of this unit took on and the efficiency devel- 
oped demonstrates thoroughly to my mind the feasibility of training the citizen reserve. 

The few feeble remarks that I have made in no way set forth the worthiness of this unit — 
we, at this time, are not in a position to give these units full credit but as times become normal 
and the world forgets war, posterity will do full credit to these deserving men. 

H. A. PHILLIPS. 




Capt. Andrew Schons 
Quartermaster, Base Hospital No. 36. 



Lt. Ferris H. Fitch. 




Major H. E. Randall. 

Hospital "A" 

Base Hospital No. 36 A. E. F. 

Hospital "A," known as the Central, was called by Lt-Col. B. R. Shurly The Knights 
Templar Hospital, to commemorate the generosiy of the Detroit Commandery No. 1. Hospitals 
"B", "C" and "D," were surgical while Hospital "E" was medical. Hospital "A" was organized 
as a "head hospital," but also took the overflow of medical or surgical cases of the other hospitals, 
as it was not until six months after the arrival of Base Hospital 36 at Vittel that possession could 
be had of the Hospital "E," Hotel du Pare. 

Hospital "A" opened as a hospital by receiving over four hundred cases of mumps on De- 
cember 8, 1917. It received the first patient and was the last hospital to discharge a patient when 
our sick and wounded office was closed and our last convoy was evacuated to the Buffalo Unit, 
(Base Hospital 23) on January 13, 1919. 

The plan of Hospital "A" was that it should be a special hospital for all affections and in- 
juries of the head. The departments of eye, ear, nose and throat, and the dental department were 
located in the left wing of the front main floor. The pharmacy was also placed in this wing to be 
in easy reach of patients from these offices. The lobby at the front entrance to the building with 
its tile floor became the receiving room, holding fifty-five stretcher cases. Here cases could be ex- 
amined and assigned to floors or wards. The more seriously injured were put to bed in the large 
ward on the first floor or placed on the second floor, so that in case of fire all patients could be 
taken from the building. The walking patients or less seriously wounded were sent to the third 
and fourth floors. The fifth floor was reserved for the male personnel of the hospital. A door 
from the front lobby led to a large room, which was luxuriously furnished, with a home like 
fire place, for the library of the officers of Base Hos])ital 36 and for a general meeting place for 
discussion of medical and surgical subjects. 




Hotel Central — Hospital A. Knights Templar 
Hospital. 



The hall leading from the front, lobby to the large ward and to the general operating room, 
had on its left the business office where the records were kept, and on the right of this hall was 
an elevator and stairway leading to the floors above. The basement had the kitchen, with dumb 
elevators running to the ground floor. Back of the large dining room, which we converted into a 
large ward, already mentioned, was the Annex, where contagious cases were quarantined, until 
one happy day in 1918 an order came that all contagious cases were to be turned over to Base 
Hospital 23. 

There were 933 contagious cases received and fortunately not a single case of cross infection 
occured and but three of these cases died. The varieties of contagion were. 

Mumps 617 cases 

Diphtheria 339 " 

Chicken Pox 3 

Measles 23 " 

Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis 32 " 

Scarlet Fever 20 " 

There were two deaths from diplitheria and one death from scarlet fever. In this connec- 
tion it is interesting to note that but three cases out of forty-seven cases of pneumonia, died, 
showing that Hospital "A" seemed to be under the influence of some lucky star. 

Out of 15,097 cases treated in all hospitals of Base Hopital 36, from December 8, 1917, to 
December 8, 1918, 4,795 cases or 31i/^% were patients of Hospital "A." The death rate was 
exceedingly low. There were 15 deaths in all or a mortality rate of .0031. This is a mortality 
percentage rate of less than one-third of one percent, in spite of the fact that 933 cases were con- 
tagious diseases, 776 cases were gunshot wounds of various parts of the body; 175 were of the 
head, 37 were of the chest, 21 of the abdomen and 32 were of the neck ; 23 were cases of appendi- 
citis, 16 of acute nephritis, 389 cases had been gassed, 235 were cases of influenza, and 47 were 
cases of pneumonia. This low mortality rate of less than one-third of one per cent is one which 
it would be very hard to equal, and of which we are both proud and thankful. 




Capt. Reed Shankwiler. 



Lt. Clarence L. Weaver. 



The medical and Surgical staff of Hospital "A," or the Knights Templar Hospital, was 
at its opening commanded by Lt.-Col. Burt R. Shurly, who organized Base Hospital 36, and who 
later, on the transfer of Lt.-Col. Hiram A. Phillips to Chaumont, the Headquarters of the Ameri- 
can Expeditionary Forces, became the commanding officer of the entire unit which he had brought 
to France. Maj. H. E. Randall of Flint, and Capt. Wilfred Haughey, of Battle Creek, the sec- 
ond in command of Hospital "A," are entitled to the credit, during the absence of Lt.-Col. Shurly, 
of receiving and directing this hospital with its first 400 cases. 

Lt.-Col. Shurly _being a specialist in diseases of nose, throat and ear, Capt. Haughey took 
charge of the eye department, until Col. Shurly assumed command of Base Hospital 36, after 
that he had charge of both departments. Some months later Major James McDowell Patton, 
of Omaha, was sent here, and took charge of the eye department. Lt. Eugene Smith was assigned 
as assistant to Major Patton, and Capt. Reed Shankwiler was then assigned as assistant to Capt. 
Haughey. In April, 1918, Major H. E. Randall, of Flint, was ordered from Hospital "B,'' as 
Vice-Chief of Major Frank B. Walker, Head of Surgical Service to Hospital "A," to command, 
succeeding Lt.-Col. Shurly as Chief Surgeon, Hospital "A." 

The Dental Department was in charge of Capt. Bion R. East, of Detroit, who had as his 
associate, Lt. Harry L. Hosmer, D. C, of Detroit. The work of this department in Maxillo- 
facial and in dental surgery, proved so successful that the army soon recognized Hospital "A" 
as the center for maxillo-facial injuries. 

Lt. Clarence L. Weaver proved himself very valuable in diagnosing mental and nervous dis- 
eases. Capt. Albert Harris had charge of the venereal ward, which was soon discontinued, due to 
lack of business. Capt. George Van Rhee took great pleasure in diagnosis of the skin lesion which 
no one except a dermatologist is supposed to recognize. 



On the opening of Hospital "E," the medical hospital, the following officers were transferred 
from "A," Capt. Ward E. Collins, Capt. George Van Rhee, and Lt. Claude B. Gaines. Their 
places were taken at various times by the following casual officers, Capts. Walter A. Ford, C. 
F. Shook, J. C. Olsen, and Lts. Louis L. Burnstein and Reed A. Shankwiler. 

The chief nurse was at the beginning Miss Ethel Helen Davison, who later was relieved by 
Miss Jennie Abramson, who previously had been in charge of the operating rooms. Miss Cooper, 
who had been Superintendent of the Shurly Hospital in Detroit, was the nurse in the eye, ear, nose 
and throat department, where she made herself at home. Succeeding Miss Abramson in the general 
operating room was Miss Alice Gilmore and Miss Pailca. 

Hospital Sergeant Bernard Harrigan, in charge of Hospital "A," set the pace for work and 
kept everyone on their toes, making it very uncomfortable for any who showed the least inclina- 
tion to grow slack in their work, as any one of the following personnel can testify. 




Officers' Library, Hospital A. 



Operating Room, Hospital A. 



Report of the Hospital to Detroit Commandery No. 1 

THE Crusades for the delivery of the Holy City and of the Holy Sepulchre from the hands 
of the Infidels originated in France. The Knights Templar and the Hospitaliers were 
organized as a military body to care for the sick and wounded, to protect travelers, and to per- 
form all acts of mercy and pity. It was thus fitting that the largest American Base Hospital 
should come to France under the patronage of the Knights Templar of Detroit. 

Detroit Commandery No. 1 not, only gave very liberally its money, but some of its distin- 
guished members served as officials in this great American Hospital. Lieut. -Colonel and Sir 
Knight Burt R. Shurly organized and served as its director, and, finally, as its Commander. Major 
and Sir Knight Frank B. Walker was the Chiet of the Surgical Department, and was Consultant 
in all injuries of the brain. Captain and Sir Knight James Mathews was a consulting ortho- 
pedist. Capt. and Sir Knight Harry L. Hosmer, Dental Corps. These officers are members of 
Detroit Commandery No. 1 

We all are proud of the opportunity of being your agents in this work of mercy to the sick 
and the wounded soldiers. Our work, however, was not limited to the Americans, for we re- 
ceived 1,464 Allied soldiers, and gave hospital treatment to 69 civilians. During the 13 months 
after we received our first patient, we admitted 15.097 patients. 

As the success of Hospital A was largely due to the generous support of the Knights 
Templar of Detroit, Detroit Commandery No. 1, it is to Hospital A, the "Central," that 
your name was given. This hospital was specially organized, and at first personally commanded 



53 



by Lieut.-Col. Shurly himself. The purpose of the hospital was that it should be a special hos- 
pital for all affections of the head. Experts in operations and treatment of diseases of the eye, 
of the throat, and the nose, and of the nasal cavities; of the mouth and jaw, of the ear, and of 
surgery of the brain, and of deformity of face, were given the opportunity of team-work in pro- 
ducing the best results that American surgeons were capable of. The results have justified this 
organization, for soon the Army recognized it as being the Center for Maxillo-Facial injuries 
under direction of Capt. Bion R. East. 

It will not be necessary to tire you with technical terms; to hint at some of the things of 
surpassing interest : Abscesses, even in the brain, were localized and operated, as were abscesses 
of bony cavities connected with the nose, a comparatively new branch of surgery. These were 
successfully diagnosed, operated, and drained. 

Cases of old rheumatism with local infection of the tonsils, or of the bony cavities related or 
connected with the nose, were referred here, and treated with uniformly successful results. 

There were but two cases of total blindness, and both of these poor fellows finally died 
from other extensive wounds. In this one branch of service alone the restoration and saving of 
sight has been an invaluable service. 

In deformities of the jaw we always had 12 to 15 cases undergoing treatment. The oper- 
ation and treatment of these hideous wounds where a part or all of the lower jaw had been shot 
away gave uniformly good cosmetic results. The Dental Department in one year extracted 1056 
teeth, and filled thousands, gave 318 general anesthetics ; and repaired 47 compound fractures of 
the jaw. The importance to the Army of providing means for prophylaxis of the teeth was noted 
and emphasized in this service. 

It was in rush times that the Detroit Hospital was filled up with all sorts of cases. It was 
a common saying that if one did not know what to do with a patient, "send him to the Central ; 
they will take care of him." 

Your hospital opened with its first patients 3 weeks after we landed in Vittel. Then they 
sent over 400. Your hospital was equal to the occasion. Some idea of what 400 patients suddenly 
landed at your door means can be realized if you consider that Harper Hospital with its Solvay 
Addition would have had every bed filled, and still have had a hundred patients waiting outside 
for a place to sleep. This was a real test of organization, but every man was fed and given 
prompt attention, as though nothing unusual had happened. 

For several months the Annex of the Detroit Commandary No. 1 Hospital was busy with 
contagious diseases. One night at mid-night, 13!) cases of diphtheria were sent to us without a 
previous warning. 

This makes 960 cases of contagion that have received our care, without a single instance of cross 
infection, and with but two deaths. Two of our cases of meningitis were totally deaf afterwards. 
But none died. 

During the busy times following the battle of Chateau Thiery (Second Battle of the 
Marne), and, later, the advance through the Argonne Forest, the Detroit Commandary Hospital 
was filled to the peak with soldiers rushed from the battlefields. It was surprising to see what 
a few days hospital treatment could accomphsh. 

The original contribution of Carl E. Schmidt with that of others, established a Red Cross 
Base Hospital of 500 beds. Your additional contribution with a guarantee of up to $60,000 made 
possible the doubling of the bed capacity. The thousand beds raised ultimately to 3000 beds. 
The Finance Committee headed by Louis Peters, Albert B. Lowrie, Fred Robinson, and Wm. 
E. Robinson, not only succeeded in easily raisii^ the amount, but have since repeatedly con- 
tributed to the welfare of the patients and personnel. The Banners of the Knights Templar 
have been hung in the wards, and, as far as possible, Masonic members have been kept together. 




Group of Officers and Nurses. 
The Bull Gang. 
Staff and Patients, Hospital A. 
Anibulance Train. 



Group of Officers and Nurses, Base Hospital No. 36. 
Ambulance Convoy. 
French Soldiers Loading Ambulance. 



The summary of the work done during the year in the Hospital of the Detroit Commandarx 
No. 1 is as follows: 

Out of 15,097 patients in all of our Hospitals from December 8, 1917, to December 8, 1918, 
one year, 31J/^%, or 4,795 were patients in the Hospital of the Knights Templar. The death 
rate was exceedingly low. There were 15 deaths, or a mortality of .0031. This is a rate of less 
than one-third of one per cent. This is a remarkable record. Of the 15 deaths, 3 were due to 
lobar pneumonia. This is the record in spite of the fact that 933 cases were contagious dis- 
eases; that 776 cases were gunshot wounds on various parts of the body; 175 were of the head, 
87 were of the chest, 21 of the abdomen, and 32 of the neck; 23 were cases of appendicitis, 16 
of acute nephritis, 389 were gas cases, and 235 were cases of influenza, 47 were cases of pneu- 
monia, with but 3 deaths. There were also 20 operations for mastoid diseases. Also some of the 
most difficult operations in surgery were done.. This is a record of which you may justly be 
proud. 

The Medical and Surgical Staffs of the Knights Templar Hospital was at its opening com- 
manded by Lieut.-Colonel and Sir Knight Burt R. Shurly, who was succeeded by Major Herbert 
E. Randall, of Flint, as Chief Surgeon. 

The department of Ear, Nose, and Throat was in charge of Capt. Wilfred Haughey, of Bat- 
tle Creek, who, for a time, also had charge of diseases of the eye. The Eye Department later 
was in charge of Major James M. Patton, of Omaha, and Eugene Smith, Jr., of Detroit. 

The Departments of Maxillo-Facial and Dental Surgery were under the direction of Captain 
Bion R. East, of Detroit, who had as his associate, Lieut, and Sir Knight Harry L. Hosmer, of 
your Commandary. 

Captain Reed A. Shankwiler acted as assistant to the department of diseases of the nose, 
throat, and ear, and as specialist in diseases of the lungs and heart. Lieut. C. E. Weaver, of 
Detroit, proved himself to be very valuable in diagnoses of mental and nervous diseases. 

Our full capacity was 540 beds. This was made possible only by placing cots in rooms and 
halls. It was like the hotels at convention time — except less noisy. 

When a new convoy came in, the soldiers arriving were pale and tired. Most had not seen a 
bed for months. To get in between clean, white sheets was to them in their expression, "living 
the life of Jerry." For one or two days it was one blissful sleep, except to awaken at meal time 
and for the dressing of wounds. In three or four days beds would become vacant, and by the 
end of a week, few patients were still confined to bed. Those recovering helped those less for- 
tunate, and many made inquiries of the nurse and the ward surgeons if there were something 
they might do to be of service. Many became volunteer nurses for their fellows, and assisted in 
getting ready for the next convoy that was to come in the night or early in the morning follow- 
ing. 

It was exceedingly rare for morphine to be; given for pain. Hardy and strong, the fittest 
of America, the pride of our country never complained, and never expressed a wish except to 
be sent back as soon as possible to their company. 

H. E. Randall, 
Major M. C. Commanding. 




Hospital "A" Report from Dec. 8, 1917, to Jan. 1, 1919 

■iST'e 

Total number of patients 

Total number American 

Total number of Allies 

Total number of Civilians 

Total number of deaths 

Deaths from pneumonia 

Total Mortality— .00328 
CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES 

General Diseases: 

Typhoid fever 

Paratyphoid fever 

Malaria 

Influenza 

164 
Diarrhoea and Dysentery 

Tuberculosis 

Syphilis, hereditary 

' ' -r, ■ 30 

Primary 

Secondary 

Tertiary 

Cancer 

Rheumatism, acute articular 

" chronic articular 

Diabetes 

Goiter '. 

S7 



Leukemia 

Diseases of Nervous System: 

Disease of spinal cord 72 

War Neurosis : 

1. Concussion 37 

2. Psychoneurosis 35 

f nsanity 6 

Hysteria 

Malingering 

Epilepsy 16 

Diseases of Circulatory System: 

Disordered action of heart 19 

Valvular disease 15 

Arteriosclerosis 4 

Diseases of Respiratory System: 

Gas cases 390 

Bronchitis, acute 251 

Bronchitis, chronic 11 

Pneumonia, broncho 12 

Pneumonia, lobar 47 

Pleurisy 32 

Empyema 2 

Asthma 11 

Diseases of Digestive System : 

Appendicitis 23 

Cholecystitis 2 

Diseases of the Genito-Urinary System: 

Nephritis, acute 18 

Gonorrhoea 60 

Alcoholism 4 

Diseases of the Skin : 

Scabies 20 

Erysipelas 20 

Frost bite 21 

Gas burns 12 

Miscellaneous : 

Fever of undermined origin 58 

SURGICAL CASES 

GSW— Head 175 

Neck 3? 

Thorax 37 

Abdomen 21 

Right arm 33 

Left arm 39 

" Right fore arm 20 

■' Left fore arm 19 

Self inflicted wounds 

GSW— Right thigh 24 

Left thigh 35 

Right knee 26 

Left knee 23 



GSW— Right leg 63 

Left leg 54 

" Right hand 33 

Left hand 42 

Right foot 31 

Left foot 21 

Wounds by rifle or machine gun 15 

Shrapnel 2 

GSW— Neck 21 

Multiple wounds 6 

Fracture, simple 45 



compound 



jaw 



skull 



MISCELLANEOUS 

Hemorrhoids 35 

Hammer toe 1 

Hernia ^ 29 

Varicose veins 

Varicocele 

Trench feet 



6 

3 

49 

Flat feet 31 




Convalescents Playing Cards. 



Personnel that Have Worked at Hospital "A" 



PvT. First Class Richard Martin 
PvT. First Class James Griffith 
PvT. First Class Alfred Hensell 
Pvt. First Class Silas Finn 
PvT. First Class Peter B. O'Neil 
Pvt. First Class Carl Holbrook 
Pvt. First Class Harry L. Phillips 
Pvt. First Class Florian Mack 
Pvt. First Class Fred Wild 
Pvt. First Class John Whelan 
Pvt. First Class Harold Holmes 
Pvt. First Class James Curran 
Pvt. First Class Ross Wilkins 
Pvt. First Class Stanley Hunt 
Pvt. First Class John Anderson 
Pvt. First Cla-ss FIdmund Wilson 
Pvt. First Class Lester Morrison 
Pvt. First Class Arthur Evans 
Pvt. First Class Hal Wright 
Pvt. First Class Raymond S medley 
Pvt. First Class William Green 
Pvt. First Class William Wright 
Pvt. First Class Harry McConnel 
Pvt. First Class Jack Wallace 
Pvt. First Class William Beach 
Pvt. First Class Henry April 
Pvt. First Class Arthur Hamilton 
Pvt. First Class John Conway 
Pvt. First Class Oran C. Allen 
Pvt. First Class Donald McQueen 
Pvt. First Class Otto Skripsy 
Pvt, First Class Michael Dombroski 
Pvt. Claud Cutrell 
Pvt. Robert Broyles 
Pvt. Charles Blackburn 



Pvt. Edward Parker 

Pvt. Clint A. Crooks 

Pvt. Leo Forsha 

Pvt. George E. Farr 

Pvt. J. E. Clifton 

Pvt. First Class Goddie Phillips 

Pvu First Class Thomas L Wood 

Pvt. Founaris 

Hosp. Sot. Bernard A. Harrigan 

Sgt. First Class Lee Joslyn, Jr. 

Sot. First Class Samuel Backus 

Sgt. First Class Joseph Varion 

Sgt. First Class William Pulkinghorn 

Sgt. First Class Chas. E. Bohn, died of 

pneumonia 
Sgt. Vance Buchanan 
Sgt. Edward Vanderline 
Sgt. Howard Kramer 
Sgt. Carl Sitter 
Sgt. Windsor D. Schuyler 
Sgt. Asa Baker 
Sgt. Albert Barnett 
Sgt. Arthur P. Bogue 
Cpl. Wilbur T. Huddle, secretary to 
dental department 

"Cooks" 

John Avalier 
Clarence Ewald 
Thomas Hamilton 
Jack Morris 
Colin T. Bain 
Jack Bayne 
John G. Mrock 
Frank P. Burg win 
Albert Davidson 
Phillip Bear 




7/(1 Fuld ^tLiili::ci and the Cootu Eitii minatoi- 
Bill Wright. 



>pi-r,iiinij Room, Hospital A. 



Hospital "A" Report from Dec. 8. 1917. to Jan. 1. 1919 

OPERATIONS 

Appendectomy 6 

Arthrotomy of right knee 3 

Ab.scess drained : 

Neck 3 

Scrotum 1 

Fore arm 1 

Inguinal glands 1 

Amputations : 

Left arm below elbow 1 

Right arm 1 

Right thigh 1 

First finger 1 

Adhesions broken up, due to adhesion of ileum 1 

Circumcision 5 

Curettment of bone 5 

Debridement 30 

Enucleation : 

Right eye 3 

Left eye 2 

Foreign bodies removed from: 

Right hand 2 

Left hand 1 

Right shoulder 4 

Abdomen 1 

Left leg 3 

Buttocks 7 

Right thigh 6 

Neck 2 

Left knee 1 

Head 7 

Face 1 



Jo ram o 

Left shoulder 1 

Left arm 15 

Left fore arm 19 

Right arm 8 

Right fore arm I'i' 

Hemorrhoidectomy 20 

Herniotomy, single 7 

" double 1 

Hydrocele, tapped 2 

Ligation : 

Brachial, artery 1 

Axillary artery 2 

Sub-clavian artery, 2nd portion 1 

Ulnar 1 

Laminectomy, shrapnel removed from spinal cord 1 

Mastoidectomy 5 

Mastoid wound drained 1 

Meatotomy 2 

Orchectomy 1 

Rib — resection, 7th left side 1 

Removal of ingrovi^ing toe-nail 1 

" " corn 1 

" " cervical glands 2 

" " tumor from right axilla ■ 1 

Skin graft on right arm 1 

Secondary suturing: 

Multiple GSW 9 

Shoulder 5 

Right arm 1 

Left -arm 2 

Neck 1 

Right hip 2 

Thyroidectomy 2 

Trephine 10 

Aspiration of pleviral cavity 7 

Blood transfusion 3 

Varicocelectomy 4 

266 




Major James M. Patton. 



Capt. Eugene Smith, Assistant. 



Eye Department 

Base Hospital 36, A. E. F. 

Base Hospital 36. VitteL-The eye clmic here was in charge of Capt. W. B. Haughey, 
who had the best and most complete equipment for ophthalmic surgery of any of the then active 
American hospitals in France. This equipment was brought with Base Hospital 36 and Mus- 
tratcs the great advantage of having each base hospital transport its own special equipment. Two 
Lancaster magnets were found installed and a room devoted to the use of the eye clmic. Base 
Hospital 23, which was in close proximity to Base Hospital 36, also had an eye dime, but with- 
out adequate equipment for ophthalmic surgery. An optical unit was, however, first assigned to 
Base Hospital 23, in a room provided for it, as most of the refraction work was being done 
here Later Maj. J. M. Patton was assigned to Base Hospital 36 to take charge of the eye 
work and organize an eye center for the Vittel atid Contrexeville area. Several rooms at Base 
Hospital 36 were assigned to him in which to locate a central eye clinic, as all such work, includ- 
ing refraction, was now to be carried on here, and a room was also set aside for the optical unit 
transferred from Base Hospital 23. Major Patton was made consultant for the combined Vittel 
and Contrexeville areas and most of the serious operative work was routed or transferred to 
his clinic. This plan of centralizing the eye work for the area under the consultant at Base Hos- 
pital 36 worked out most admirably, and a great deal of praise is due Major Patton for the 
efficient manner in which he built up this center, which, with the special wards placed at his dis- 
posal, soon became one of the most active ophthalmic centers in the advanced area. 



Department of Ophthalmology 
Report of Work Done Dec. 8, 1917, to Jan. 13, 1919 



Service 
Capt. Haughey 

Conjunctivitis 97 

Conjunctival Irritation 

Conjunctivitis (Gas) 130 

Cornea Abrasions and Foreign Bodies 3 

Corneal Ulcer 18 

Cataract 1 

Chalazion 33 

Choroiditis 3 

Enucleation, Convalescent from 11 

Enucleation 9 

Episcleritis 1 

Evisceration 1 

Fundus. Examination, Consultation 17 

Globe, Injury of 16 

Intraocular F. B. : 

Non-Magnetic 4 

Magnetic 3 

Extraction of 3 

Iritis 17 

Keratitis 6 

Lachrymal 2 

Leucoma 1 

Lid Abscess 1 

Lid Injury 13 

Loss of Vision 3 

No. Disease Present No record 

Opaque Nerve Fibres 

Optic Atrophy 1 

Fracture Orbit .* 2 

Orbital Injury 3 

Palpabritis Marginalis 15 

Panophthalmitis 

Papillitis 1 

Refraction 197 

Retinitis Albumemiria • . 1 

Retinitis Pigmentosa 4 

Pterygium 5 

Strabismus 5 

Trachoma 4 / 

Vitreous Hemorrhage 1 / 

Vitreous Opacities 1 



Service 
Major Patton 
21 


118 


112 


,112 


64 


184 


21 


24 


8 


26 


2 


3 


11 


44 


2 


5 





11 


1 


10 


1 


2 


5 


6 


59 


76 


18 


34 


5 


9 


3 


6 


3 


6 


5 


22 


4 


10 


3 


5 


2 


3 


1 


2 


33 


46 


4 


6 


52 


52 


1 


1 





1 


1 


3 


14 


16 


13 


28 


2 


2 


14 


15 


167 


364 


1 


2 


1 


5 


3 


8 


2 


7 


1 


5 


7 


8 


4 


5 



621 



671 



1292 




Eye, Eai . A'oji, and Thioat Opciatmy Room, Hospital A. 



Capt. Wilfred Haughey. 

HEAD SECTION 

Detroit Commandery Knights Templar Hospital 
HOTEL CENTRAL 

The Head Section was located in the Central, otherwise known as Hospital A. I do 
not know if Hospital A is being written up separately, but wish to take the opportunity 
here to state that it was at first placed under the command of Major Shurly with Captain 
Haughey second in command. When the first patients were received by Base Hospital 
36 Major Shnrly with Major Walker and others, was on an inspection trip around i; ranee, 
so the command of Hospital A devolved upon me. I had been in bed four days with the 
"flu" when the adjutant Captain McGraw. later Lieutenant Colonel, asked me to take active 
charge of the hospital, as patients would be received within two hours. 

Within that two hours beds were placed, made, the kitchen opened and 137 patients 
received. The next day there were 150, and by the end of the third day, 351. Ihese 
were mostly mumps and measles, but they made us a lot of work. They were admitted 
into the hospital building designated as the Head Section, and were cared for by that statt 
It is therefore entirely within the proprieties for the Head Section to claim having received 
and cared for the first patients admitted to Base Hospital 36. But that is not our only 
opportunity to boast. On December 12, at 3 P. M., Pvt. Raymond Gordon of Co. B 166 
Inf 42nd Div., was operated upon. Paracentesis Tympani Sinistra, for rehef ot Utitis 
Media This was the first stated operation in Base Hospital 36. The day before we had 
opened a boil on the neck for one of the men. but I do not have the record of that, or the 
name, as we considered it just routine work. 

While speaking of the first operation done by Base Hospital" 36, we cannot refrain 
from mentioning the last. On Jan. 15, Florence Crane. A. N. C. Base Hospital 36, and 
Florian Mack P F C, Base Hospital 36, had their tonsils removed. Mack being the last 
one. There were two or three later at Base Hospital 23, but that is another story. 

While on the subject of tonsils let's mention our biggest tonsil day. We had accumu- 
lated a ward full of chronic rheumatics on the fourth floor and made a desperate ettort to 




Scene in Vittel. 
A Wrecked Aeroplane. 
Washing in the River. 
The Red Cross Farm. 



The Bread Wagon. 



Hay Wagon. 

Haymaking, Vittel. 

Washing in the Village Trough. 

Bottling Factory, Vittel. 



get rid of them. We operated on 15 of them one day — March 19, 1918 — spending two 
hours and fifty minutes at it. While the department had many days in which we did a 
great deal of operating, this was the biggest tonsil and adenoid day. 

The work that came to our department was most interesting and as varied as would 
ever come to the average clinic. On Nov. 9, we removed tonsils for Lieut. L. L. Bur- 
stien, M. C, who had true bone formation in each tonsil — large piece of bone Yz inch by 
1J4 inch by y% inch, with true bone cells and Haversian canals. 

One day in the Summer of 1918, just after receiving patients from the front — Soisson- 
Vesle region — two patients on the second floor complained of their throats. Upon investi- 
gation we found Diphtheria. These were both from the 26th Div. in line. Every patient 
admitted was then cultured, and as a result of our report sanitary inspectors were sent to 
the front. An epidemic was discovered and within a few days we received 139 Diphtheria 
cases in one train load. These gradually cleared up, except one death, until a small batch 
of carriers were left. These were finally cleared by Tonsillectomy. Thus our department 
was responsible for the discovery and stamping out of a Diphtheria epidemic in the front 
line troops, — 36th Division. 

We will never forget many of the ludicrous experiences. The long line of patients 
always waiting at our door; the French civilians who came to us with all their troubles; 
the American medical officer who was sent to us one day and upon being directed to the 
end of the hall found there a line of French Poilus and upon listening at the door heard 
some conversation in French. He returned to the office of the building and said he was 
looking for an American outfit, not a French clinic. We had our French patients at that 
hour, and of course it did not sound like U. S. 

It will be remembered that the Germans put over a gas attack on the American front 
on March, 1918, at Baccou. We went up with an amljulance train and brought back some 
of these patients, soon receiving very many of them. We immediately instituted a treat- 
ment for these cases, both eye cases and nose and throat burns, that was later adopted by 
the American Army — Guiacol carbonate in olive oil. We had dozens of eye cases in the 
wards when Col. Derby came down on an investigation tour asking to see some of our 
striated cornea. We had none, and he immediately wanted to know what we had done to 
them, for everyone else, French and English. h?id been having none such results. He reported 
to Col. Greenwood, who also came down two or three days later, and told me he was going 
to publish this treatment all over the American Hospitals in France. Just lately I have 
learned this treatment is claimed by another, but Col. Greenwood will vouch for this state- 
ment herein contained. 

We could continue these reminiscences endlessly, but have not space. However, we 
must tell one last true story. Col. McKernon, chief of the ear. nose and throat department 
in France, was in one day and I asked him for a chance to visit some of the other clinics 
in France. He said he would be glad to send me if there was any place to go, but that 
Base Hospital 36 had had the largest and most active service in our department of any 
American hospital and there was nothing new we could see. 

The number of cases, summary, etc., are all covered in the official hospital report, 
and I do not have those figures, but believe I have touched enough to recall many other 
interesting things to those connected with the department, even though the surface has 
not really been scratched. 

The department is especially grateful to its nurses and orderlies, Miss Evelyn Cooper, 
Miss Grace M. Daley (Mrs. R. U. Adams), and Miss Alice Gillmore (Mrs. W. H. Wools- 
ton), Pvt. Fred Wild and Pvt. Henri April. The medical officers connected with the 
department in one way and another were Lieut. Col. Shurly, Major Patton, Capt. Eugene 
Smith, Capt. Gaines, Capt. Shankwiler, Lieut. Weaver and Major (Cpt.) Wilfrid Haughey, 
chief of the department. 

Wilfred Haughey, Major M. C. U. S. A. 




Capt. Bion R. East, 



Capt. Harry L. Hosmer. 



The Department of Dental and Oral Surgery, Base Hospital No. 36, A. E. F. 

The Departemnt of Dentistry and Oral Surgery was composed of Doctors Harry L. Hos- 
mer and Bion R. East, both of Detroit. 

Doctor Hosmer reported for duty August 30, 1917, and Doctor East, August 23, 1917, at the 
State Fair Grounds, Detroit, Michigan. 

During the time the organization was stationed at the State Fair Grounds, the personnel of 
the department did not function professionally, other than to inspect the mouths of the per- 
sonnel and do certain emergency operations. These operations served one purpose if no other, 
than to demonstrate the possibility of "getting the number" of one Cashmore "Bill" of the city 
of Wyandotte. 

Like the other members of the unit during this period of professional inactivity, the per- 
sonnel of the Dental Department was assigned to duties to which they seemed most suited. 
Doctor Hosmer was assigned as drill master. The fitness of the workman can be judged by 
the product of his labor. Look at the military appearance of Corporal Milroy. 

The writer was diverted at once to a fitting avocation ; that of roustabout in charge of the 
baggage smashing ; when not occupied in handling someone's trunk, ditches were dug and other 
light duties performed. And by the way, I never have found the person who tied our mascot, 
the goat, in the shower tent at the Fair Grounds the night of the big storm. That occurence 
was the cause of my first call down from our Commanding Officer, Colonel Phillips. I had re- 
ported as officer of the day, that everything in and about the camp was O. K. when I was asked 
if I had inspected the shower tent. 

The next assignment given to a member o f the dental department was that of chaperon ; 
you will remember the loss we suffered when the Government insisted that Captain George re- 
main in this country. To supply this deficiency. Captain Andrew Schons, O. M. C, arrived one 



cold, frosty morning in October, 1917, via yellow cab, bag, baggage and bedding roll. The writer 
was at once assigned as his personal slave and body guard, a relationship which continued to exist 
for many weeks ; during this time the writer learned to differentiate between rubber boots and 
boots, rubber, hip or knee, as the case might be. At this point I wish to say that there are many 
very fine things that might be said about "Andy" Schons. He had a big heart, and his greatest 
fault was his greatest virtue, loyalty to his Q. M. C. The writer likes to remember the in- 
stances where Captain Schons would give some poor French widow 200 Francs from his own 
pocket, rather than remember his quibbling about a few centimes where accuracy was involved. 

My particular duties were rather too extensive to enumerate. The care of all the unit's 
property, as well as the loading of the officers and men's personal baggage, did not give so much 
trouble as looking after the baggage of the chaplain's detachment. Greater anxiety could not have 
been exercised over the care with which one's baggage should be handled even in this time of 
prohibition, than was demanded by the chaplain's department when their boxes, trunks, etc., were 
involved. 

Along about this time, the nucleus of what was to be the "Bull gang" was formed, those 
cavaliers of stress and resistance. We will pass over hurriedly our efforts to keep the baggage 
intact in those three baggage cars on our way to Hoboken while the train at times made 70 
miles per. No mention will be made of the stevedore work done on those "light weight'' boxes 
we were taking as light baggage, while they were being removed from train to lighter and again 
from lighter to dock, from dock to the net of the Orduna, where our responsibility stopped for 
the time being, at least. 

En route nothing particularly worth mentioning was done, other than Doctor Hosmer and 
Doctor East holding sick call once each day in the ship's pharmacy ; other than that our duties 
consisted in keeping the morale of Major, then Lieut. Harris at the highest pitch. All who know 
the circumstances will remember that "Al" did as much pitching as anyone. 

Arriving in Liverpool, the writer was instructed to leave the ship and report to the Em- 
barkation Officer, who was found to be an English Major with a cane which was carried in com- 
bination with the Englishman's superiority. He directed that we should watch our baggage as 
it left the ship and see that it was placed in suitable order. Prior to leaving the ship, part of the 
"Bull gang" had been sent into the hold to look after the trunks, etc., marked B H 36. As a 
consequence when things started to slide down the chute to the dock, it was all B H 36 marked. 
The English Officer was immensely pleased until those loose cots (remember them?), started mak- 
ing their appearance, when he threw a figurative fit. When informed that we had some other 
light pieces of baggage among our effects, such as a complete kitchen and mess outfit including a 
refrigerator, he all but passed away and very promptly gave order to leave it on the ship, which 
was the cause of the cruise by one, Sergeant De Haene. But of that in another place. 

At this point enter the villain in the form of that National Guard Major from New York 
who was in command of the ship. He ordered us aboard the train for Southampton and we 
were to leave our personal baggage behind. 

Arriving in Southampton, sometime before midnight, you will remember the trip to the 
"Rest Camp'' — but no rest camp for the baggage sm.ashers, we must wait for those trunks which 
should come in sometime during the night. Major Phillips here advised that if .we were going 
to await that train, he would do so also. Eventually the baggage train and property arrived about 
3 a. m. when it had to be sorted, packed, etc. A guard posted, we were ready for the bedding 
roll if possible to find a place to house us. Inquiries were made about a hotel — yes, one was near 
but it probably was filled. At any events Col. Phillips said we would make the try. The hotel 
was found, the clerk advised he had one room only. There I was, the lowest ranking Lieut, in the 
outfit with this strange Major of the Regular Army, my commanding officer and one room only 
remaining. However, the Colonel seemed to act as if I was to go along so up we went, I think- 
ing that the floor would be a soft spot anyway. Upon reaching the room, it was found to con- 
tain two beds ; one was a big fat inviting bed ; the other had a short, narrow hard look. Right 



here Major Phillips did something which made the dental department his loyal supporters. He 
said, "East, I'll match a coin with you to see who sleeps in the big bed." We didn't match and 
the little hard bed wasn't so bad after all. 

Of course you all remember how the baggage detail was separated from the main party in 
the trip across the channel. Anyway the baggage was placed aboard a freighter, which was 
slow and of deep draught, which made it an exceedingly difficult target to hit with a torpedo. It 
seemed that this ship was to convey some exceedingly valuable members of the British Army 
across the channel. So great care was made to see that every comfort was provided for them. 
These favored passengers were horses. They loaded the ship with the horses ; when it was found 
that all space which was fit for a horse to occupy was filled they began filling the remainder with 
soldiers, some 2,500 English and Australian infantry men, with their respective officers. After 
these troops were aboard they let the baggage detail of Base No. 36 aboard, who took up their 
"quarters" in a vacant horse stall three flights down and forward. It should be mentioned here 
that Lieut. Royston E. Scrafford, M. C, had been attached to the baggage detail for this trip. 
"Scraff" and I have often tried to figure it out how he came to be picked to make this sacrifice. 
We never were able to definitely settle it in our minds, unless it was that he being the most lowly 
Lieutenant in the Medical Corps as I was in the dental, and therefore could be easily spared. It 
was a happy choice for me because I became better acquainted with "Scrafi" and to know him 
better is to respect him more. "Scrafif" came in handy also during the "dash" across the channel 
(two days and two nights) ; he could say things about those English officers who used all the 
bunks, occupied all the chairs and ate all the food, that had escaped my description. 

Eventually we reached LeHavre where that baggage was taken ofif the boat, again sorted, 
piled and checked. It was hard work of course but what did it matter, had we not been told 
that we were to go to another rest camp where complete relaxation could be had, as soon as the 
work was finished. You all remember the rest camp at LeHavre — chicken wire and cooties. 
However, there was one nice thing happened to the baggage detail at the LeHavre rest camp. 
It had been reported that the ship we were aboard, had been hit by a submarine and as we did 
not arrive until afternoon of the second day some credence had been placed in the rumor. Any- 
way, we received a warm welcome upon our arrival. About six o'clock the same day I was in- 
formed that we would entrain for some unknown destination about 5 :30 the next morning, and 
that during the night all the baggage must be collected and put aboard a train before that time. 
Volunteers were asked to assist in the work — about the same men stepped forward — they said 
they would rather work than stay in the "rest camp." 

It was dark. No lights in the city; the trucks were without light, the truck drivers had 
arrived only that day so did not know the city ; the city streets were narrow, and filled with 
bridges over streams. The baggage was in six different places (the nurses being housed in 
four hotels). A very favorable layout you will grant. However it was done without incident, 
other than caving in the fronts of two trucks and smashing two telephone poles. Eventually the 
property was aboard the five box cars, when an ambitious Captain in the quartermaster's corps 
arrived about 4 a. m. and said it would have to be placed in the cars just a little differently. 

At last it suited the Captain. We were told to put our rations aboard which we would find on 
the station platform. As the train was about to move out our rations were loaded along with 
those of two other outfits, which were to move later, and you will all grant we had plenty to 
eat while on that train for the next week. 

Let us pass rapidly over the events which followed our arrival at Vittel. The moving of the 
property from the trains to the temporary quarters, via borrowed wagons propelled by the man 
power of B H 36. The final restoration of the chaplain's duffle bag to its owner ; the telephoning 
to General Blatchford of the Zone of Advance for trucks; the trucks were obtained, also a call 
down from the General; the reception of 75 car loads of supplies and their transportation to the 
warehouse from warehouse to hospitals. The various duties, such as making the cemetery, 



trips to Chaumont, Grieves, Nancy, Paris, Neuf Chauteau, etc. We pass that all over until we 
begin the real history of the department of Dental and Oral Surgery B H 36. 

A complete equipment for two dentists was bought in Detroit and shipped with other sup- 
plies. , 

Shortly after reaching Vittel, Sergeant Asa K. Baker, an experienced dental mechanic was 
attached to the dental department. He was placed in charge of the dental laboratory, which was 
completely equipped. 

Two nurses were detailed for duty in the dental department, Miss Anna Kaiser and Miss 
Phoebe Tullar. An experienced office man and stenographer was detailed to keep the records, 
Corporal William Huddle. Later Miss Emma J. McCaw replaced Miss Kaiser and Miss Bab- 
cock, Miss Tullar. 

Munger Finn was detailed as assistant to Corporal Huddle. Corp. Forrest was detailed by 
G. H. O. as assistant to Sergeant Baker. 

Dr. Oscar Johnson, a dentist of Minneapolis who was an enlisted man in the army, came to 
Base Hospital No. 36 as a patient; with the consent of G. H. Q., Doctor Johnson after his con- 
valescence was retained and acted as a dental surgeon. 

When at its height the department was composed of the following: 

Harry L. Hosmer, D. C. 

Bion R. East, D. C. 

Dr. Oscar Johnson. 

Emma J. McCaw, R. N. 

Phoebe Tullar, R. N. 

Asa K. Baker, Sergeant. 

William Huddle, Corporal. 

Raoul Forrest, Corporal. 

Munger Finn, Private. 

The work was divided as follows : 

Doctor Hosmer in charge of operative dentistry. 

Doctor East, oral surgery. 

Doctor Johnson, assistant to Doctor Hosmer. 

Sergeant Baker, mechanical dentistry. 

Misses McCaw and Tullar, general assistants. 

Corporal Huddle, office supervisor and charge of property. 

Corporal Raoul Forest, assistant to Sergeant Baker. 

Private Munger Finn, assistant to Corporal Huddle. 

During the drives of 1918 when the work became heavy. Doctor East was made by G. H. 
Q., consultant in Maxilo Facial Surgery for the Vittel Hospital Centre. From that time Doctor 
Hosmer had the responsibility of the dental department Base No. 36. 

Below is a brief statement showing number of patients cared for by the Dental and Oral 
Surgery Department. 

Total number of persons treated : 

Officers and enlisted men 1688 

Others 348 

Total treated 2036 

(Note) — By others is meant nurses, civilians attached to the Army, such as Red Cross, Y. 
M. C. A., etc. 

71 



These cases represent everything in the field of dental, oral surgery and plastic surgery of 
the face, ranging from relief of toothache to the surgical interference in the most extensive 
wounds in the face. A few high spots would show that under Doctor Hosmer's direction, 1813 
teeth were filled; these fillings ranged all the way from tin fillings to the finest of gold inlays; 
it would show that a total of 134 mouths were made serviceable by proper fitting dentures made 
under the direction of Sergeant Baker. It would .show that 1211 teeth were extracted. It would 
show that 1436 surgical dressings were done. It v/ould show that 55 splints for broken jaws 
were made and set. It would show that 184 wounds of the face and jaws, ranging all the way 
from a rifle bullet to a lacerated face from high explosives, were cared for. 

The members of this department are extremely proud and happy to know that there were 
no fatalities among this large group of cases which were cared for. That this is possible, the 
writer wishes to acknowledge, is due almost entirely to the care which his associates gave and 
the wonderful nursing they received while in the rooms and in the wards. He is extremely grate- 
ful for the work which was done by Miss Gertrude Witban, R. N., and Mr. Carl Holbrook, 
and still another person who did a great deal to save the lives of those boys who were handicapped 
to such an extent in eating, is cook John Avalier, who was never too tired nor too busy to fix 
something which was tasty and possible for them to eat ; he did this even though he had to steal 
the eggs and other ingredients from the mess officer. 

It would not do to overlook the assistance this department received from Major Wilfred 
Haughey, M. C, who was in charge of the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat department of Base 
No. 36 at that time. 

Members of the dental department are cognizant of the splendid co-operation we received 
from the Chief of the Surgical Service, Base Hospital No. 36, Frank B. Walker, Major M. C. 
Last, we are appreciative of the efforts of Colonel Phillips who through thick and thin did not 
lose his faith that the members of the dental department were capable of handling the jaw and 
face cases, without interference from ambitious, molesting outsiders who might be assigned to 
some special duty by some good angel in G. H. Q. 

Such expressions as those contained in the following letter made the work of the members of 
the department, extremely pleasant: 

Pvt. F. Jagger, 41807 

1st East Yorks Reg. 

78 Park Grove, Barnsley. 

4th Oct. 1918. 

"Just a few lines to let you know I managed to get across to Blighty when I left Vittel. 
We went right to the British hospital at Le Havre and I was sent to England a few days later. 
At present I am at home on an 8 weeks leave. On arrival at Le Havre I was examined and the 
doctor told me that I had no bone union so that is how I managed to get across. I got into 
hospital in Manchester — was X-rayed and again told I had no union and I have again got splints 
on my jaws. They are practically the same as what I had on before only gold plated ones and 
instead of being wired together I have them cemented together and as the beds in our hos- 
pitals are wanted for the big convoys of wounded I am as well at home. 



I shall, of course, go back into hospital again just before Christmas. I was told that I 
would never have a right strong union so may have a good chance of getting my discharge (I 
hope so). 

Of course had it not been for the good treatment and care I received at your hands I may 
have been "pushing up daisies" now somewhere in France and I cannot thank you too much 
for the treatment I received. The hospital I am in (when there) is for nothing but jaw cases 
and I am sure it would interest you to visit it. I don't expect I shall go over seas again and you 
may be back in America before I am ready to." 

Shall welcome a letter at your convenience, and regards. 

Yours sincerely, i ~i 

F. Jagger." 

We simply want to report one case of a sample record of the injuries of the face and jaws. 




Surname Given name No. 

McKenzie Thomas 566354 

Hospital No. Dental Case No. 

10343 1225 

Admitted from Hour & Date of Injury 

Hospital Train Oct. 9, 10 A. M. 

Character of Injury — Gun shot wound 
compound, comminuted fracture, asso- 
ciated with gun shot wound of right 
cheek. 

History and description of wound. 

External wound right cheek about 6" in length, was tightly sutured when patient entered this 
hospital. Patient was septic. Sutures removed and drainage established. Wound involves 
parotid gland. 
Wounded on Argonne Front. 



Age Rank Co. 


Reg. Corps. 


20 Pte. A 


Ti FA 


Hospital "A" 




Central Hospital 




Hour & Date of Adm. 


Date of Evac. 


Oct. 11, 11 P. M. 


Nov. 18-18 


Cause 




Shrapnel. 





X-ray report. 

Plate shows a comminuted fracture of the right mandible extending in the region of the canine 

backward involving the entire mandible to and including the ramus. One large fragment in the 

region of the bicuspids and first molar is markedly depressed downward. "R. E. S." 

Special tissues injured. 

7th Nerve. Lower lobe, right parotid gland. , 

Treatment. 

Inter-dental wiring and cast aluminum splints placed. 

November 6, 1918, Plastic Operation. 

Fig. No. 1. Condition of patient on being admitted. 

Fig. No. 2. Condition of patient on reaching this country. 

Fig. No. 3. Condition of patient 1920. Photo taken in Detroit. 

Fig. No. 4. Front view, same patient. 

This condition was obtained without other interference than was given at Base Hospital No. 
36 by the members of the Dental Staff. 

Bion R. East, Major D. C, U. S. A. 

Base Hospital No. 36 

A. P. O. No. 732. American E. F. 
Oct. 10, 1918 

From: Lt. R. A. Shankwiler, 1st Lt. M. C. U. S. A. 

To: Lt.-Col. Burt R. Shurly, C. O. Base Hospital No. 36. 

Subject: Contagious Disease Report. Hospital A. 

Mumps 611 or 64.05 per cent 

Measles 23 or 2.41 per cent 

Meningitis 33 or 3.35 per cent 

Scarlet fever 20 or 2.09 per cent 

Diphtheria 238 or 24.94 per cent 

Scabies 27 or 2.83 per cent 

Chicken pox 3 or .31 per cent 

Total 954 99.98 

10,136 patients treated, of whom 954 were contagious, or percentage of 9.42%. 

HOSPITAL "A" 

Men Who Have Worked In Men Who Have Worked In 

Operating Room Contagion 

Sgt. Carl Sitter 
PvT. First Class Fred Wild Sgt. W. D. Schuyler 

PvT. First Class Florian Mack Pvt. First Class Peter B. O'Neil 

PvT. First Class Peter B. O'Neil Pvt. First Class Fred Wild 

Sgt. W. D. Schuyler Pvt. First Class James Griffith 

Pvt. First Class Alfred Hensell 
Pvt. Michael Dombroski 





Major Frank B. Walker. 

HOSPITAL "B" 

Base Hospital Number Thirty-Six American E. F., A. P. O. 732 
SURGICAL SERVICE 

January 9, 1919. 
HE Surgical Service of Base Hospital 36 was divided into Head and General 
Surgery, and in conformity with the plan arranged in the Surgeon General's 
Office, a Head Hospital was established in Hotel Central, known as "Hospital 
A." Wards and operating rooms in the building were set apart for skull frac- 
tures, eye, ear, nose and throat cases, and for those requiring oral and dental 
surgery. That hospital also received much of the overflow of the Medical 
Cases from Hospital "E," as well as a large number of surgical cases. 

The general surgical cases were divided among Hotels Ceres, Palace and Sources, known 
respectively as Hospitals B, C, and D. In all of those buildings special attention was given to 
the equipment for surgical work, including baths, X-Ray equipment and operating rooms with all 
the necessary paraphernalia, dressing rooms, instruments and dressings. It should be noted, 
however, that during the stress of the drives and influenza epidemic a large number of Med- 
ical and Gassed patients were admitted to these hospitals. 

Following out a plan which was found to be generally arranged in standard base hospitals, 
a special room near the entrance was fitted up as a receiving room. There tub and shower baths 
were installed for ambulatory patients who were able to use them. Orderlies assisted in un- 
dressing those cases, in bathing, and in redressing them with pajamas, slippers and bath robes. 
Stretcher cases were placed on long, low and narrow tables, undressed by orderlies and bathed 
by nurses, and after being redressed were carried through the hall to the X-Ray Laboratory. 




Hotel Ceres, Hospital B, Detroit College of Medicine 
Hospital. 

The X-Ray Department was unusually well equipped. It had at its disposal a standard 
X-Ray table for plate work, with all the necessary appliances in one room, a Fluoroscopic 
table with appliances for vertical examination, and in another room a dark room for developing 
plates, and an office provided with a large show case and a stereoscopic outfit for the examina- 
tion of plates. 

In an adjacent operating room a Fluoroscopic table was designed and set up. 

After X-Ray examination of bone, joint and foreign body cases all new patients were 
transferred successively to the operating rooms at the end of the corridor on the same floor. 
Twelve operating tables and a sufficient number of smaller instrument and dressing tables had 
been provided for a great influx of patients, but six tables for three teams in addition to the 
Fluoroscope table served satisfactorily to meet the needs of that hospital. 

In those three or four operating rooms amputations, debridements, foreign body removals, 
drainage and dressings were done according to the necessities of the cases which were then as- 
signed and taken to the several wards. 

Hotel Ceres having been built for summer resort business, was partitioned into 187 rooms. 
There were six floors above the basement called respectively Wards A, B, C, D, E and F. In 
each ward separate rooms were set apart as the ward surgeon's office and dressing room, a diet 
kitchen, a nurses' room and a lounging room for patients. Ambulatory cases were examined 
and redressed in the dressing room. Trays were prepared in the diet kitchen for all bed pa- 
tients. Medicines were prepared and chart work done in the nurses room. The lounging rooms 
were used by ambulatory cases for reading, writing, and smoking, and playing of games, and 
served to keep patients out of the corridors. The immense kitchen in the basement of the Grand 
Hotel was put at the disposal of Hospital B and the butcher shop for the Unit was also com- 
modiously located there. 

After having cared for the first American soldier wounded on the American front in Al- 
sace, handled hundreds of patients daily during the big drives, and brought back to health and 
strength the first received American prisoner patients from a hospital in Germany, Base Hospital 
36 is preparing to return to the United States. 




Cai't. James D. Matthews. 



Capt. Carlton Russell. 



On November 2, 1917, Corporal Homer Givens, torn by grenade fragments and left for 
dead by the Germans in their iirst raid on the American lines, was brought to Base Hospital 36 
and treated there until April 6, when he went to the interior. During the last month 164 allied 
and American prisoners of war were received from the Trier Prison Hospital in Germany, the 
first German Prison Hospital to be turned over to the American forces after the signing of the 
Armistice. 

Base Hospital 36, from Detroit, Michigan, was the third Base Hospital to receive patients in 
the area of the American front in Alsace-Lorraine. In midwinter of 1917, the organization, 
known as the Shurly Unit, after its organizer and commander, Lieutenant Colonel Burt R. 
Shurly, took over five summer hotels in the famous Lorraine "City of Waters," Vittel. With 
meager supplies and under great difficulties, preparations were made to receive 500 patients with- 
in three weeks. 

All the winter of 1917 Base 36 cared for the sick and prepared by all necessary construc- 
tive surgery the soldiers who were fast assembling in France for the great American effort. 
Before the Amex forces had begun concerted battle with the enemy, French soldiers from the 
Verdun and Lorraine fronts and English wounded from Champagne were cared for in two 
of the largest hospitals, 1,461 Allied patients being received at the Base. 

During the big German push at Chateau-Thierry and during the great American counter 
drives at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne, Vittel was used as an Evacuation Center, as many as 
six trains arriving in a day to the Center hospitals, with convoys, evacuation trains removing the 
patients after treatment. Base 36, with four surgical and one medical hospital, had capacity 
for 3,000 patients and for considerable time the corridors were lined with cots. 

Base Hospital 36 received by train and ambulance most of the first cases of American 
gassed in the region of Baccarat, where the Germans on November 10, 1917, launched a heavy 




Capt. R. U. Adams. 



Lt. Leo J. Stafford. 



gas attack. Up to December 1, 1918, 982 gas cases were admitted to the Base. A system of 
graduated exercise was instituted for these patients with excellent results, 71% of them return- 
ing to duty immediately. 

Fifteen thousand and ninety-seven patients were handled at this Base from December 8, 
1917, to December 8, 1918. In Hospital A, which had 31.5% of all these cases, the death rate 
was .0031, a slightly better average than one death in every 300 patients. In the Spanish- 
American War there were 20,000 cases of typhoid fever, 3,000 of which died. In the recently 
completed year at Base Hospital 36, there were discovered two cases of typhoid and one of 
paratyphoid fever, the death of only one soldier out of more than 15,000 being due to this 
former scourge. 

In the Vittel Hospital Center there are excellently appointed club buildings for officers, 
nurses and enlisted men, all provided for and severally equipped by the American Red Cross. 
The Officers Club is situated in a beautiful villa hidden among the trees, and the Nurses' Club, 
accommodating 200 nurses, and the Enlisted Men's Hut are considered the finest of their type in 
France. 

Vittel is admirably situated for a Base Hospital, the American Front proper of Alsace 
and Lorraine, lying within a radius of 50 to 60 miles and easily accessible by ambulance or 
hospital train. The town, which has long been famous as a French resort for mineral springs, 
was named after the Roman Emperor, Vitellius, and even in that older day its springs were used, 
remains of Roman baths, a statue of Venus and tripods used for burning incense before that 
deity being found near the present springs. Vittel was the home of Joan Theirselin, god-mother 
of Joan-of-Arc. 

A baseball field, a golf course, tennis courts and a beautifully laid out park were at all times 
open to the American soldiers convalescent at Vittel, and did much to mitigate for them the hor- 




Personnel of Hospital B. 

rors of that war which subsided into a far-off but never-ceasing rumble. Hot shower and tub 
baths in the Vittel Bath EstabHshment were conducted by the Red Cross, who supervised the 
recreations of the soldiers, provided them entertainments and "movies" in the Casino and saw 
that they wanted for nothing. Fresh vegetables and meat were provided by the Red Cross 
100-acre farm. Band concerts and boxing matches were held in the park during the summer. 

The spontaneous expression of what not only Base Hospital 36 but all the American Base 
Hospitals meant to the American wounded and broken in battle is perhaps given in this rhyme, 
written by Richard Scanlon, Co. A, 101 Reg., Rainbow Division, one of the first patients from 
the concentration camps at Neufchateau : 



The place, oh, just Base ^6, 

The Building they call B ; 
Regulations call it a Hospital, 

It's a grand hotel to me. 
Yes, somehow we all like this place. 

It's been just like a home. 
The only pleasure zve don't have, 

Is beer with all its foam-. 
Well, if the worst comes to the worst, 

We'll all be back some day. 
Perhaps we may get wounded. 

When the battle's in full sway. 



Good-bye to beds and real white sheets. 

Good feeds, baths and pajamas, 
We don't have such things in army life, 

But, then, they do not harm us. 
Good-bye to the fond nurses, 

Who handle us like babies. 
We may never see your faces again; 

I guess it's "Good night, ladies." 
We're going after "Boche" 

The same as we did the "Spicks," 
And if ever I get wounded 

Take me back to "jd." 



Opposite the receiving room on the first floor were the first sergeant's office and the Phar- 
macy. Facing the main stairway was the Chief Surgeon's office and farther along the east and 
west corridor was the property sergeant's office and chief supply room. 

Two operating rooms, nurses' work room and sterilizing rooms were also set up in the west 
wing of the building, being used principally for the operative cases on the upper floors. On 
the opening of the Hospital in January, 1918, 350 beds were reported. Later more beds and 
cots were secured and the capacity of Hospital "B" was reported officially as 563. But in the 
Chateau Thierry drive the corridors were also crowded to a full 600. In the fall the reserve 
portion of the north wing had been leased and 200 more regulation hospital beds provided. At 
this time the huts and tents of the Convalescent Camp on the Red Cross Farm were being set 
up, and one tent was located on the lawn behind the Ceres building. 100 more beds were de- 
livered and the maximum capacity of Hospital B was increased to 910 beds. 

At the outset the clinical laboratory of the unit was set up on the first floor of the Ceres 
Hotel, opposite the X-Ray Laboratory. Later, under the supervision of Colonel Siler, the 
clinical laboratory was established in the same building, but moved from the first floor to the 
second floor, where it occupied eight rooms. 

At first all ambulatory patients were fed in a large dining room but when the hospital be- 
came overcrowded in July, the dining room tables were moved to rooms in the basement and 
the regular dining room was converted into Ward G. It was initiated by the reception of 99 gas 
cases placed on French "Service de Sante" cots. After the rush was over, 61 regulation Army 
beds were substituted. 

When the Hotel Ceres was leased as one of the buildings for use of Base Hospital No. 36, 
the Commanding Officer put it in charge of Major Frank B. Walker as Chief Surgeon. The 
other officers assigned were Captain Herbert E. Randall and Lieutenants George P. Raynale, 
Ross U. Adams, and Leo J. Stafford, who were placed in charge of wards "A," "B," "C" and 
"D," respectively. 

In accordance with plans outlined by Major Go Idthwaite, the st.afif was disorganized. Captain 
Randall and Lieutenant George P. Raynale were detached and detailed elsewhere. Lieutenant 
Adams was also detached, but reinstated immediately. Captain James D. Matthews, who had 
been on duty at Hospital "D," and Captain Carlton R. Metcalf, who had been in Orthopedic 
Service in England, were assigned to duty in Hospital "B" and placed in charge of wards "A" 
and "B." A few days later Lieutenant Jelks, who had also done service in England, was intro- 
duced by Major Goldthwaite and placed in charge of ward "E." Lieutenant Grimes, a sanitary 
officer, was also brought in to assist in the treatment of orthopedic cases. Captains Brennan, 
Langworth and Lieutenant Williams were also detailed to Hospital "B" from Base Hospital Unit 
23 by Major Rukke for special duty. 




Officers' Morning Conference, Hospital B. 



Dining Room of Ceres Hotel in Peace Time. 




Large Surgical Ward, Hospital B, Opened with pp 
Gassed Soldiers. 

March 18th, 1918, Major Goldthwaite called and stated that the plans to make of Hospital 
"B" an exclusive bone and joint hospital for the advance section would not be carried out. 
Accordingly the officers detailed from Unit 23 were recalled and Lieutenant Grimes also 
took leave March 29th, 1918, Lieutenant Cheney, who also had done service in England, was 
detailed to the hospital. April 15th, 1918, Captain Ely reported to Hospital "B" for duty but 
left the next day and did not report again. April 28th, 1918, Lieutenants Stafford and Jelks 
were detached and ordered to Field Service and Lieutenant Cheney was ordered to Hospital 
"C " In May, Captain Metcalf was permanently detached from Hospital "B," and Captain 
Cilley reported for duty, and was put in charge of ward "B." After several weeks' absence, 
Lieutenant Stafford returned for duty, but left again with Surgical Team No. 27, for work in an 
Evacuation Hospital. Captain Cilley was also detached. Lieutenant Sucha reported and was as- 
signed to ward "B." Lieutenants Burnstien and McKinney were also referred to Hospital B 
for a few weeks' service. Lieutenant Schriver was also on duty for two weeks. 

When the St. Mihiel drive was on and many pre-operatives were received, the staff consisted 
of the Chief Surgeon, Captain Matthews, Lieutenant Adams and Lieutenant McKinney. These 
officers were assisted by Lieutenant Font of the Laboratory Department for two days and 
operated six tables and handled a large number of cases. The first day, one hundred and 
twelve patients passed through their hands. On the following day, a surgical team consisting 
of Major Edwin F. Dean, Capt. A. C. Arnette and Lieutenant Wolf were assigned to Hos- 
pital "B" for two weeks, and placed in charge of Wards "B," "D" and "E."^ After the depar- 
ture of the surgical team. Captain Russel was transferred from Hospital "C" to Hospital B 
and Lieut. Stafford returned from service at the front. 

In November, upon the evacuation of all patients from Hospital "C," Lieut. Ira C. Downer 
and Lieut. William Woolston were transferred from that hospital to Hospital "B" and assigned 
to Wards "D" and "A." Major Fay followed and was assigned to Ward "B." January 3rd, 
Lieut. Claude B. Gaines was relieved from duty at Hospital "E" and took up duties of Medical 
Officer of Command at Hospital "B," reporting to Chief Surgeon. 

In the organization of Hospital "B," Mrs. Betsey Harris, Chief Nurse of the Unit, assigned 
Miss J W Valentine as Head Nurse. After serving in that capacity for several months she 



was succeeded by Miss Florence Cornes, both of whom rendered excellent service and were as- 
sisted by details from the Nursing Corps. Miss Cornes was at first put in charge of the operat- 
ing rooms and organized and equipped that branch of the work in a very satisfactory manner. 
During the rush period she was succeeded by Miss Martha Murphy and assisted by Miss Ethel 
Davison. Donald Sessions was First Top Sergeant of Hospital "B," and was succeeded by 
Clarence Otter, March 10th, 1918. Vance Buchanan was Night Sergeant. Arthur L. Peterson 
was Property Sergeant. William Sewell was Mess Sergeant. Walter McGillicuddy and Carl 
Hatch were operating room assistants. Bert Myring and later Anthony Aukstikalnis, were cooks. 
The other enlisted personnel : 

Smith, Frank Wallacf., Jack F. 

Genthe, Walter Campbell, Bruce 

Weaver, Earl Ireland, Leslie 

Foster, William D. Ross, Edward 

Hunt, Stanley D. Robinson, Joseph 

Hospital "B" received its first consignment of patients on January 13, 1918. From that date 
until December 8, 1918, there were received and cared for a total of 3879 cases classified as 
follows : 

HOSPITAL "B"— CASES ADMITTED 

Appendicitis 73 

Acute Gastritis 166 

Abscess 52 

Arthritis 33 

Bronchitis 166 

Dysentery, of various kinds 108 

Empyema 11 

Flat Foot 84 

Absorption of Deleterious Gas 195 

Frost Bite 

Trench Foot 109 

Duodenal Ulcer 2 

Gastric Ulcej 

Gas Infection 4 

Fracture, Simple, Skull 1 

" Compound, Skull 3 

" Simple, Coccyx 1 

Upper Extremity 890 

G. S. W. Lower Extremity 891 

Trunk 179 

Epididymitis 

Orchitis Venereal 4 

Hernia Inguinal 79 

Femoral 1 

Influenza 144 

Intestinal Perforation Following Typhoid 




Innsion of Dura; Clot Removal Wound Closed. 

o 
Malignancy Sarcoma 

Carcinoma ^ 

., . 13 

Neurosis 

Pneumonia As cause of admission 

Following operation 

Peritonitis, following operation or injury 

Skull Injuries 

Scabies 

Scalp Injuries 

Shell Shock ° 

Synovitis, Knee, Tendo-Achilles ^^ 

■ . 131 

Sprains 

Spondylitis 

Traumatism, Civil ^ 

Undescended Testicle 

Varicocele 

Venereal 

Miscellaneous 

Total Number of Cases ^^^^ 

Total Number of Deaths , ■ ^^ 



83 




Trcphinmg Skull for Shrapnel. I-'licoroscopic Removal of Shrapnel. 

HOSPITAL "B"— OPERATIONS 

The operative work of Hospital B has been done under some difficuhies due to the lack of 
desirable instruments and sterilizing equipment, and to lack of sufficient personnel, including 
officers, nurses and men. However, the results have been satisfactorily successful. 

The work of the operating rooms has been tabulated and is as follows : 

Total number of amputations 13 

Appendectomy 50 

Aspiration of Pleural Cavity 4 

Abscess, Incision, and Drainage 57 

Blood Transfusion 7 

Castration (unilateral) 1 • 

Circumcisions 23 

Curretment of Sinus 11 

Cystostomy 1 

Debridement with Drainage — Carrel Tubes 531 

Decompression or Trephine 3 

Enterostomy 1 

Epididimectomy 7 




Stock Room, Hospital 



Recreation Room. 




First American Soldier Wounded by Exploding Grenade 
on the Americain Fr'ont in Alsace. 



Excision of Nerve Bulb 1 

Fracture Reduction (with anesthetic) 85 

Foreign Body Removal 456 

Gastroenterostomy 1 

Hallux Valgus Operation 4 

Hemorrhoidectomy 24 

Herniotomy 44 

Hysterectomy • 1 

Lane Plate to Tibia 1 

Ligation — following secondary hemorrhage 5 

Neosalvarsan Intravenously 1~ 

Ovariotomy 1 

Plaster Casts 26 

Resection of Ganglions 1 

Resection of Toenail ^ 




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r ily ^^ ' 


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Operating Room, Hospital B. 



The Same. 



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BpUKS, .^fl 


BB 


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Dressing Wounds. Visiting Soldier zvitit Amputated Leg. 

Removal of Glands 2 

Removal of Cysts 5 

Rib Resection 7 

Specimen Removed 3 

Spinal Puncture 4 

Tonsillectomy 1 

Undescended Testicle Operation 2 

Urethrotomy 1 

Variocotomy 31 

Wound Closure: 

Primavy 6 

Secondary 82 

Operating Room Dressings 108 

Miscellaneous 55 

Deaths Following Operations 23 

Total Number of Operations 1688 




Fluoroscopic Removal of Machine Gun Bullet from Hip. 



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Receiving Room, Hospital 



Dressing Wounds. 





Miss Olson III Xmas, 1918. 



Flat Feet. 




Tony and Aids, Kitchen, Hospital B. 



George Discher in His Shop, Hospital B. 



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Major Channing W. Barrett. 

HOSPITAL "C" 

Base Hospital No. 36, American E. F. 

Surgical Service 

The building known as Hospital C, and quite generally known as the "Palace," was one of 
the five large buildings which housed the patients of Base Hospital No. 36. It was well located 
on the hill with a beautiful and wholesome outlook in every direction. Up to the time of our 
taking it over, it was being used for a French Military Hospital, and some rooms were reserved by 
the French for some weeks afterward. An inspection of this building before it was taken over 
by our authorities showed it to have possibilities, and yet it fell far short of presenting satisfactory 
conditions for a hospital. The construction intended it for a summer hotel, and it was lacking 
in heating facilities. Four years of war-time neglect had left it sadly in need of repairs. Floors 
were badly worn, iron bannisters falling apart, glass broken, sinks and water closets in bad con- 
dition, with walls well smeared with excretory products. This building was well supplied with 
bath tubs, some of them elegant, and many in a fair state of repair. Notwithstanding the inade- 
quate heating plant and the coal shortage, these baths proved a blessing to our patients, and an 
oft-sought comfort to the unit and visiting members of the A. E. F. It was found that appli- 
cation, industry, ingenuity and a moderate amount of expense would go a long way in making up 
for the shortcomings of a building. 

Five medical officers, one-fifth of the hospital personnel and of the nursing force, were as- 
signed to Hospital C, and the highest commendation is due all for the enthusiasm and energy 
with which they undertook to transform this into a practical working unit for the care of sick and 
wounded soldiers. The assignment of officers and men proved to be bonafide and as far as possi- 
ble remained intact during the existence of the hospital. The assignment of nurses was less 
stable, they being in some instances assigned or withdrawn for punitive purposes. This plan 
threatened the integrity of the operating room force and an adjustment was necessary. 




Hold Palace. Hospilal C. Alexander I. Lczi'ls Hospital. 



The assignment of officers was as follows : 

Major Channing W. Barrett. 

Capt. George Fay (later promoted to rank of Major). 

Lieut. F. Lee Stone (later promoted to rank of Capt.). 

Lieut. Ira Downer. 

Lieut. William Woolston. 

Capt. Russell (later, temporarily). 

Capt. Harris (later, temporarily). 
The ranking officer of this hospital appreciated greatly the other assignments, and especially 
the fact that they remained intact except for temporary duty elsewhere. 

Miss Agnes Reid, of Chicago, was assigned the duty as head nurse, and held this position 
during the greater part of the life of the hospital, conducting the nursing with enthusiasm and 
efficiency. To mention those whose devotion to our unit and to the sick or wounded soldiers, 
would be to mention practically all, and I trust they will receive mention in the proper place. The 
work of Miss Olsen as anaesthetist and Miss Gilmore in the operating room helped particularly 
in our operating team work. I wish also to commend the work of our head nurses. I must not 
in this connection forget the splendid sacrifices of Miss Tenner and Miss Howard during the trying 
weeks at the Campagne and Chateau Thierry fronts. 

Sergt. Clarence Otter was in charge of the personnel at the opening of the hospital and con- 
ducted the work with such dignity and efficiency that he was called to Hospital B, Sergt. Sessions 
being assigned to Hospital C, whose work was characterized by exactness and enthusiasm. Later, 
when he was put upon outside work this work fell to the quiet, likeable leadership of Sergt. William 
E. Honey. 

The work of the hospital would not be visualized without recalling the ever-present, pains- 
taking and congenial Corporal Ralph Wheeler, of the office force. John Marks, of the operating 
room, should be mentioned for loyal, faithful and efficient work. Beach and Metcalf's faithful 
work under trying conditions at the front ever stands out as a pleasant memory. I trust at this 
time it will not depreciate the work of others if we say that as a quiet, ready, willing specimen of 
soldierly bearing, Harry Carlin stands out as an example. 





Major George E. Fay. 



Capt. Fred Lee Stone. 



Hospital C opened to receive a large number of sick from the 42nd Division on Decem- 
ber 12th, 1917 — among whom were a large number from Alabama, men conquered by the cli- 
matic conditions of the severe fall and winter of '17 in France. Some of them looked like poor 
soldier material. A few months later, in the Chalon and Chateau Thierry sectors we met some 
of these same men, and they seemed to have developed and had proven themselves the very 
devils of fighters. 

Late in January, 1918, Hospital C was evacuated of American soldiers to prepare for the 
reception of the French and other Allies. A convoy of French arrived February 12th, 1918, and 
were particularly welcome, as we had been marking time for three weeks, and furthermore, it gave 
us an opportunity of coming in contact with the French officers and men. We found that the 
French soldier, while presenting some peculiar traits, had learned to care for himself better than 
had the American soldier, and required much less nursing. The French officers in charge, Capt. 
Gazet and Sergt. Emil Breau, will be remembered by all as thorough gentlemen. The French 
officers who were patients on July 4th remembered our Independence Day by a celebration and 
presentation of a beautiful and magnificent floral piece and a presentation speech, written and 
beautifully decorated with the American and French colors. 

In July, when the American forces became active, our doors were again opened to the 
American soldiers, and from then until after the Armistice we were kept very busy. 

As the fall offensive drew apace we were notified to prepare for semi-evacuation hos- 
pital work so that more operating room space was needed on the first floor. To this end 
the round salle a manger was converted into an operating room, accommodating 8 oper- 
ating tables with an abundance of working space making one of the best operating rooms 
seen in France. 




Lt. Wm. H. Woolston. Lt. Ira G. Downer. 

We had as patients, 3,304 Americans with 22 deaths, 149 British with 2 deaths, 523 
French with 3 deaths and 14 civilians with 5 deaths. The latter large death rate was ac- 
counted for by the moribund condition of some patients brought to the hospital. Our 
tirst operation was upon a French captain's wife who had been previously operated upon 
by a French Army surgeon and her condition pronounced inoperable and hopeless. Among 
the early cases were several gastro-enterostomies for obstructive ulcers which had taken 
on new activity by reason of the hardships and irregularities of army life and diet. Con- 
trary to the regular army physicians' conception, these men returned to active duty at the 
front. 

An unusual case was that of pedicled Mullerian c3'St projecting into the sac of the 
tunica albuginia 'and greatly swollen by reason of twisted pedicle. Our injured men pre- 
sented several interesting cases of foreign body in the brain with very satisfactory termina- 
tions. I wish to record the operation of plastic operation of the levator ani muscle for a 
case of rectal herniation (rectal prolapse). These with plastic operations upon the feet, 
hands and knees were of greatest interest. 

I may say that the most notable thing about our work was the careful, conscientious, 
consistent work of my junior officers, aided by the nurses and orderlies. 

Our force was decidedly weakened at times by ofificers being sent on detached duty, 
but efiforts were made to make good this loss by temporary assignments. Very early the 
commanding officer of Hospital "C" and Lieut. Stone (later Capt.) were sent up with the 
English. Soon after, Capt. Fay (later Major) was sent on like service. This served 
decidedly to broaden one's vision and army experience. Lieuts. Downer and Woolston were 
early assigned to duty with the 42nd Division at Vaucouleurs. Later the commanding 
officer was on duty at Evacuation Hospital No. 1, and Lieuts. Stone, Downer and Wools- 
ton were on dut}' with the 32nd Division on the southern end of the Western Front. Dur- 



ing- the months of July and August our surgical team, consisting of Major Channing W. 
Barrett, Lieut. F. Lee Stone, Lieut. Wm. Woolston; nurses, Miss Howard and Miss Ton- 
ner and orderlies Wm. Beech and Russell Metcalf were at the Chalon and Chateau 
Thierry Fronts. As officer in charge of this team I would say that I think I saw no team 
at the front whose commanding officer received the same consistent, intelligent and untiring 
support from the members of his team. 

In turning a rundown summer hotel into a workable army hospital many things are 
necessary that Uncle Sam cannot furnish, or can only after long delay. Those of us at 
Hospital "C" and the quarter master will remember the whole spring, summer and fall's 
effort to get a shower bath on the first floor. It and the armistice arrived almost simul- 
taneously. 

There were those who drew upon their own pocket for needed supplies. We are in- 
debted to Lieut. Col. Shurly for some things he furnished from a fund. I wish here to 
pay tribute to Friends of Chicago who through a benefit made it possible for us to have 
a fund for the purchase of needed articles and of delicacies for the sick. We owe thanks 
to headquarters and to Lieut. Col. Phillips and Lieut. Col. Shurly for their efforts in Keep- 
ing Base Hospital No. 36 and its different units so nearly intact. 

Channing W. Barrett, 
Major M. R. C, U. S. A. 

Operations Performed at Hospital "C" 
Dec. 14, 1917-Nov. 20, 1918 



Debridement 193 

Debridement and Removal of FB. . . 124 

Removal of FB only 62 

Debridement and -closure 31 

Secondary closures 43 

Hernia 71 

Appendectomy 38 

Hemorrhoidectomy 33 

Cellulitis 38 

Varicocele 7 

Varicose veins 4 

Resection of rib 4 

Amputations 15 

Finger 7 

Toe 3 

Thigh 3 

Leg 1 

Arm 3 

Hip joint 1 

Post operative adhesions 3 



Hysterectomy 8 

Oophorectomy 1 

Dilation and curettage 1 

Gastro-enterostomy 4 

Osteomyelitis 7 

Tumors, removal of 3 

Clavicle 1 

Cheek 1 

Thigh 1 



Reduction of fractures under anaesthetic 2 

Femur 1 

BB leg 1 

Laparotomy for GSW abdomen 1 

Fracture of olecrenon (wiring of same) 1 

Enucleation of eye 3 

Hydrocele 5 

Circumcision 4 

Undescended testicle 1 

Orchectomy 3 

Floating cartilage of knee 3 



Intestinal obstruction 2 

Cholelithisias 1 

Goitre ^ 

Removal of Sesamoid bone 1 

Bunions 1 

Tuberculosis peritonitis 1 

Removal of sebaceous cyst 1 

Miscellaneous surgical 6 

Total Operations 717 

Total cases handled 2989 

Total Medical 645 

Total Surgical 2344 

Civilians 14 

British .149 

French, Italian 522 

Americans 2304 

American wounded 1773 

American gassed 97 

American medical 412 

Total No. G. S. W 2065 

Head 135 

Neck 37 

Thorax 83 

Abdomen 31 

Right Shoulder 82 

Left Shoulder- 68 

Right Arm 84 

Left Arm 141 

Right Forearm 51 

Left Forearm 64 

Right Thigh 142 

Left Thigh 152 

Buttocks 40 

Right Knee 42 

Left Knee 37 

Right Leg 173 



Left Leg 183 

Right Foot 40 

Left Foot 65 

Right Hand 95 

Left Hand 143 

Spine 4 

Self-inflicted 3 

Wounds by shrapnel 1011 

Wounds by bullet 506 

Multiple wounds 202 

Fractures, simple 41 

Fractures, compound 303 

Hand 113 

Forearm 36 

Arm 37 

Thigh 20 

Leg 47 

Foot 50 

Total Disease 313 

Influenza 38 

Pneumonia 17 

Rheumatism 24 

Bronchitis 77 

Miscellaneous 157 

Other Surgical Conditions 474 

Traumatisms 161 

Herniae 45 

Appendicitis 47 

Hemorrhoids 43 

Miscellaneous 178 

Amputations 11 

Total Died 33 

G. S. W 20 

Pneumonia 5 

Peritonitis 2 

Appendicitis 1 

Hernia, strangulated 1 





Miss Abramson — Miss Meyers 



Major Albekt E. Harris. 




Frcn.li ,;40 Mm Gun. 





Mine. Goujot 



Convoy Tiaui and Ambulance. 





Lt. Col. Henry C. Berry 

HOSPITAL "D" 
Base Hospital No. 36 A. E. F. Surgical Service 

OSPITAL "D," Macomb County Hospital, or as it was more generally known, the 
Des Sources, was taken over from the French on Dec. 20th, 1917. The build- 
ing before the war was a large summer hotel, used for the accommodation of 
visitors, who came to Vittel for the baths and water, for which the town is 
famous. The building had been used, however, by the French as a military 
hospital during the past three years. 

The staff consisted of : Major Henry G. Berry, Mount Clemens, Mich., 
Commanding; Capt Arthur J. Warren, Mount Clemens, Mich.; Capt. Geo. P. Sackrider, Owosso, 
Mich.; and Lt. A. Arthur McArthur, Lapeer. Mich. 

On March 17th, 1918, Capt. Geo. P. Raynale, Birmingham, Mich., was transferred from 
the staff of Hospital "B" to the staff of this hospital, and retained in that capacity until the build- 
ing was closed. 

The Nurses were in charge of Miss Aurel Baker, who acted as chief nurse during the entire 
period of operation. 

Immediately after taking over the building from the French, we were confronted by the diffi- 
culties of remodelling, cleaning, and furnishing the place suitable for a hospital capacity of 600 
patients. This was no small task when one considers the circumstances under which we labored, 
namely : shortage of labor, scarcity of supplies, and the general run-down condition of the building. 




Hotel Di's Sources, Hospital D, Macomb County Hospital 

One of the greater difficulties contended with was the heating of a large building designed for 
summer use only. This was practically accomplished by the use of thirty-five small French 
stoves, placed in the halls and corridors, with flues for the most part running out of the windows. 
On account of the poor grade of 'soft coal which was available, it demanded the constant atten- 
tion of two men day and night to stoke these fires. Nearly all these difficulties were eventually 
overcome. 

At the time of opening we were assigned to care for French and British patients, continuing 
to act in that capacity until the later part of July, when the great numbers of our own wounded 
made it necessary to take care of Americans exclusively. 

The general plan of the hospital was as follows : The patients being received in a large room 
at the rear of the building, they were first given hot soup or cofifee, undressed, bathed, deloused 
and were then admitted to a large receiving ward, where they were put to bed and examined. 
From this place the soldiers were distributed to the various wards. Those needing immediate 
operation were taken directly to the operating rooms. In connection with the receiving room 
was a "shock ward," where those more seriously wounded could be given immediate attention. 

The wards were, for the most part, small rooms such as usually exist in a hotel, the 
entire four floors of the building being utilized. In each room were placed from two to 
six beds according to its capacity, and during the large military offensives cots were placed 
along the corridors and in every available corner. 

On each floor was a dressing room for the accommodation of the ward surgeon in 
dressing the ambulatory cases. Also minor operations not requiring general anesthesia, 
were performed here. It was a unique sight to see, during the dressing hours, the cos- 
mopolitan line of wounded, waiting in the corridors for their dressings to be changed. 
Clad in the nondescript uniforms of all the allied nations, bandaged in every conceivable 
place — some with canes and some with crutches — men of all nations, from the slant eyed 
Indo-Chinese and black skinned native of Central Africa, to the picturesque Algerian 
and the jaunty poilus and blue devils of France. At times we had under our care soldiers 
from Madagascar, Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Italy, Russia, Poland, Australia, Canada, 
France, the British Isles and America. 




Capt. Arthur J. Warren. 



Capt. George P. Sackrider. 



There was a small diet kitchen on each floor, and the food after being prepared in the 
commodious hotel kitchen in the basement, was sent to these rooms, where it was kept hot, 
while being served to the patients. Special diets for the more seriously sick and wounded 
were prepared in the ward kitchen. It was amusing to us Americans to see with what 
ferocity the French patients attacked the white bread, it being the first they had seen for 
three years. 

The operating rooms were on the first and second floors — the one on the first floor 
directly oflf the admitting ward was a large room, in which were installed eight operating 
tables, and used in rush times only. On the second floor were three small operating rooms, 
with one table each. It would probably be somewhat amusing to a civilian doctor, from 
one of our large hospitals in America, to inspect our operating room equipment. He would 
doubtless consider our home-made tables rather crude, and our other appointments, unlike 
the elaborate armamentarium to which he was accustomed at home. But with all, we feel 
that our end results would compare favorably with those of civilian surgery which had been 
performed under the most favorable circumstances. 

We had also a very excellent and satisfactory X-ray equipment installed, consisting 
of a large transformer, with heavy tube stand, for making radiographic plates, and in an 
adjoining room, which might be darkened, a fleuroscopic table. This room was designed 
especially to facilitate operating, which might be done directly under the ray, and was 
found highly useful in reducing difficult fractures and removing the more elusive bullets 
and bits of shell fragments. Major A. B. Smith and Capt. R. E. Scraflord were in charge 
of this department. 




Capt. George P. Raynale. 



Lt. Arthur McArthur. 



Our first patients were admitted on March 5th, 1918, when we received fifty-two French 
wounded from the Verdun sector. From this date convoys of patients continued to arrive, 
from time to time, and we were never without from two to six hundred wounded soldiers 
under our care. 

On April 28th, Lt. McArthur was detached for temporary service as battalion surgeon 
for the 135th Infantry, where he served for two and one-half months on the Alsatian front, 
returning July 12th, 1918. 

Up until June 1, 1918, our patients had been exclusively French and French colonials, 
but on this date we received a train load of wounded British — our first English speaking 
patients. The poor chaps had been fighting against heavy odds, with almost constant de- 
feat, since the onset of the big German drive, which began March 21st. They had been 
moved supposedly for a rest from the district of Mount Kemmel, where the fighting had 
been most severe and discouraging, to what was considered to be a quiet sector, that part 
of the line between Soissons and Rheims. Here these tired soldiers had met with a crush- 
ing defeat, through the unexpected attack of the Germans, which carried their lines toward 
Paris, and formed that famous salient the apex of which was Chateau Thierry. These 
were indeed dark days for the Allies — nothing could more truly picture the despair in their 
hearts than the pathetic attitude and facial expression of those war worn and discouraged 
Tommies. The feelings of both the British and French were to some measure reflected in 
us, as we went about our work with heavy hearts, but nevertheless with a feeHng of con- 
fidence that sooner or later the American Army would throw enough weight into the bal- 
ance to turn the threatened defeat into victory. 




Major Arthur B. Smith. 

On July 15th, 1918, we began to realize that our hopes were well founded. At this 
time began the great allied offensive, commencing with the now historic battle of Chateau 
Thierry. 

It was the good fortune of part of our staff to be sent on detached service with Amer- 
ican Evacuation Hospital No. 7, located at Coulemmiers directly behind the fighting lines 
of Chateau Thierry. 

The operating team consisted of Major Berry, Capts. Sackrider and Raynale ; two 
nurses. Miss Ethel Lickly and Miss Amy Keel, and two enlisted men, Pvts. Klingman and 
Williams. The work done during their two weeks' stay there was exhausting and nerve 
racking in the extreme. It was, however, highly gratifying to them to see the fortitude 
with which the woifnded soldiers bore their sufiferings, and the high morale and cheerful- 
ness, so characteristic of a victorious army. During their stay the team operated more than 
two hundred cases. Upon returning they found the hospital filled for the first time with 
wounded Americans — for on July 26th, Hospital "D" received its first American patients. 
From this time on we received no more French. 

Early in September the patients were gradually evacuated, until we found our beds 
practically empty in preparation for the expected casualties of the St. Mihiel drive. 

At the beginning of this offensive on Sept. 12th, another surgical team was sent to 
Evacuation Hospital No. 9, at Vaubecourte, behind the Verdun front. This team consisted 
of Major Berry, Lt. McArthur, from Hospital "D," and Lt. Stafford from Hospital "C," 
two nurses. Miss Agnes Reed and Miss Louise Reutz, and Pvts. Smart and Norton. They 
returned on Sept. 23rd. During the absence of this team Capts. Raynale and Sackrider 



were temporarily attached to other hospitals, and on account of the depleted staff, the Des 
Sources was unable to receive patients. Our beds fortunately were kept vacant and able 
to receive the large number of casualties sent in from the Argonne Forest drive. With the 
commencement of this offensive we began to function as an evacuation hospital. This 
was necessary because of the enormous casualties that were sustained during these opera- 
tions. The wounded came to us directly from the field, unoperated and in overwhelming 
numbers. They remained in our hospital only long enough to be operated, given a few 




French and Moroccan Soldiers Waiting for Dressings 

days' rest and sent on to the bases farther in the rear. At this time two other officers, 
Major Munroe and Lt. Farnsworth, were temporarily attached to our staff. 

It would be difficult to imagine the scenes enacted in our hospital during the fore part 
of October. Our beds were filled to overflowing and as the casualties continued to pour 
in, we were obliged to line our corridors and halls with cots. Especially pitiful was the ap- 
pearance of our receiving ward. The wounded with which the room was crowded were 
maimed and mangled in every conceivable manner. In spite of the terrible suffering which 
these men were enduring, they maintained a brave front, and only by suppressed moans 
and facial expressions of pain could one appreciate their agony. Only an occasional outcry 
was heard as a shattered limb might be disturbed, or an adherent dressing removed. Many 
of these wounds were in terrible condition, being badly infected, as the rapidity of the mil- 
itary operations and intense shell fire had made it sometimes impossible for them to be 
carried from the field of battle, only after many hours. 

The character of the modern battle wound makes extensive surgical procedure neces- 
sary. Large gaping lacerations, involving the deep tissues, containing dirt and fragments 
of clothing, and frequently shattered bones were the rule. These were for the most part 
caused by jagged pieces of metal from explod ing shells. 



During this offensive our operating rooms were in continuous use, day and night. Some- 
times staff and personnel were forced to work forty-eight hours at a stretch, only stopping long 



H^aiB^sa^^BB 






. > CI ^^- ' 


r;^ 




^'' f'. ': Is 


rr '«JT 


" - "^X^ 




Hospital D, July 4th 



Convalescent Soldiers and Nurses 




Removing Trench Mud. 




Outside Vin Fin's. 




The Bread Wagon 





Three Nationalities Peeling Potatoes. 

enough to snatch a bite to eat or a cup of coffee. These conditions continued almost without 
interruption until November. During the last week of the war, the hospital was agam evacuated 
in preparation for an offensive that promised to be even greater, but which the Armistice, com- 
mencing on November 11th, 1918, fortunately rendered unnecessary. On December 1st, how- 
ever, our beds were again filled with convalescents, whom we continued to care for until the 
closing of the hospital on January 5th, 1919. 

i|HE hospital during the period of its operation cared for 174 medical cases (in- 
cluding gas), 1,714 surgical cases, and 617 convalescents, making a total of 
2,509 patients. Of this total, 728 were French and British, 1,773 Americans 
and four civilians. There was a total of 892 operations, not including 204 per- 
formed by the surgical team at Evacuation Hospital No. 7. Of these 127 

were upon French and British and 765 upon Americans. There occurred 12 

deaths, the causes of which were as follows: 1 G. S. W. of arm with gas gangrene; 2 G. S. W. 
of chest • 1 G S W. of chest and spine with complete paralysis below the 7th dorsal vertebra ; 
1 hemorrhage from the femoral aneurism, following G. S. W. of thigh ; 2 septicaemia following 
G S W thigh; 1 inhalation of Phosgene gas; and 2 lobar pneumonia, making a mortality 
rate of .635%, this figure being based upon patients treated, not including the 617 convalescent 
which were transferred to our wards from other hospitals. 

The history of this hospital would be incomplete without mentioning the names of nurses 
and enlisted personnel, who co-operated so closely with the staff in the performance of their 
duties. 

Nurses- Aurel Baker, Chief Nurse; Maud Arkell, Marie Bach, Fern Cotter, Nellie Cavan, 
Lillian Dent, Jessie Duncan. Amy Keel, Christina Keyes, Katherine Killoran, Elizabeth La 
Forge, Minnie Lester, Ethel Lickly, E. J, McDonald, Edith Medhurst, Penelope Smith, Ann 
Strub, Esther Wonderly. 

Enlisted men: Sgt. 1/c Bland Pugh (detached Aug. 16. '18) ; Sgt. 1/c George R Kenney ; 
Sgt. Howard Tanner, in charge of property; Sgt. Frank Dougherty in charge of Mess ; Sgt. 
Roscoe Norton, Pharmacist; Sgt. Howard Kramer; Sgt. Lloyd Smart, Office; Cooks, Jack 
Morris, John Bayne, John Mroch. Frank Burgwin; Private First Class, Thomas Antinotty, 
Alfred DuFault (detached Nov. 4, 1917), Larry Greenleaf, Jesse Klingman, Harry McConnell, 



Donald Melville, Eugene Peters, Arthur Sorensen, Ross Wilkins, Carl Williams, Hal Wright, 
Thos. L. Wood (detached Aug. 16, 1918) ; Privates, Daniel Adami, James Averitte, Shelby 
Allen, John Brynes, James Beaver, Stephen Blackv\^ell, Charles Davis, William Fountain, Edmund 
Goodrich, Joseph Guzman, Ronald McQueen, Waclow Zebowkowski. 




A Warm Corner. 



ENGLISH CARD OF THANKS 

To^Officers, Nurses, and Staff of U. S. Base Hospital 36 
AN APPRECIATION 

This records the heartfelt gratitude of the first l^atch of "Tommies" for 
your unceasing care, attention, sympathy, and devotion; all of which serve 
to seal the ties which bind these two great Nations to each other. 

Long Live America 
Representative Signatures 
F. English, Lincolnshire. 
T. S. Bland, East Yorks. 
C. Peedell, R. F. A., North Hants. 
F. Watson, North Hants. 





Lt. Col. Theodore A. McGraw. 

HOSPITAL "E" 

Base Hospital No. 36 A. E. F. 

OSPITAL "E," the one designated for the care of strictly medical cases, did 
not formally open for the reception of patients until April 7, 1918. The Hotel 
du Pare had been chosen, and was last to become the scene of hospital activity, 
partly because the number of patients had not as yet exceeded the capacity of 
the other buildings and partly because the hotel was not equipped with suitable 
heating facilities for cold weather. 

During the process of the preparation of this hospital, it was seen fit to 
have a party. The building looked new and clean, and the dining room floor was the best ever 
seen in Vittel. There was a grand march, an award of prizes for the best dancers, excellent music, 
games of cards, and suitable refreshments. No doubt it was the best party "36" ever had. 

Owing to the delayed opening it had been possible to formulate plans and make necessary 
arrangements for the care of patients, the proposed capacity being three hundred. Fortunately 
scarcely any changes became necessary, later to interfere with the harmonious working of the 
hospital. 

The staff was composed of Major T. A. McGraw, Jr., Lts. George Van Rhee, Claude Gaines, 
and Ward Collins, the last three having recently returned from leave of absence, were very 
anxious to begin work in what was considered to be their future home. Major McGraw, of 
course, was also more than ready to begin, as he had done no professional work for many months 
and too, he was interested in the practical demonstration of his plans of administration. 

Miss Virtue, Head Nurse, who with Josephine Deyell had spent many days in preparation 
of the place, was eager to receive patients and observe whether or not her plans had been suc- 
cessful. The other nurses who from time to time were assigned to duty there, demonstrated 
again and again the indispensability in an institution of this type of the Army Nurse. 




Hotel du Pare, Hospital E. Theodore A. McGraiv Hospital. 

It was the good fortune of the commanding officer of Hospital ''E" to have assigned to 
him for duty, three capable and conscientious sergeants, namely : Oley Blanchard, George Herbst 
and Samuel G. Backus. They along with the other men possessed a very great interest and pride 
in the place, so that there existed a certain spirit of co-operation which favored materially the 
successful operation of the institution. 

The hotel was made up of five floors and basement ; was well lighted ; prettily though plainly 
decorated, so that one found it unnecessary to call on his imagination to realize as soon as he had 
stepped inside that he had entered a hospital. On the main floor were located the ofifices ; a few 
private rooms for the care of patients; a store room; resident officer's and sergeants' quarters; a 
service room for the ward located there; a bath room; the pharmacy and the dining room; also 
a small dining room for officers. In the basement were located a very excellent kitchen, and in 
addition several rooms suitable for the storage of stock, and one for a carpenter's shop. The 
second, third, and fourth floors were arranged alike and were similarly equipped, each with a ward 
surgeon's office, a service room and diet kitchen combined ; and a small dining room to be used as 
such and also as a reading room, for convalescing soldiers, all centrally and conveniently situated. 
A little arrangement in the diet kitchen facilitated the serving of meals, with little confusion and 
with the assistance of several convalescent patients. This was a long, rather narrow serving 
table, so placed as to be easily reached by the dietitian on one, and by the waiters on the opposite 
side. On the fifth floor, in cosy, well furnished rooms, were quartered the hospital corps men, 
sixteen in number. 

The plan followed was to use the second, third and fourth floors for patients as they were 
admitted, the first floor ward was used for the overflow of convalescent patients, thus making room 
for those requiring most attention on the other floors. This ward was ideal for men who had 
been gassed, removing them somewhat from the objectional hospital enviromnent and facilitating 
the carrying on of their graded exercises. 



106 



■ A very sad feature in the history of Hospital "E," was the fact that there were forty-six 
deaths resulting from pneumonia, a massive broncho-pneumonia complicating influenza. Most of 
these were very serious cases when admitted. In order to realize the feeling of utter helpless- 
ness that developed among the doctors, trying to save these men, one must have seen service in 
this epidemic. 

The most robust and hearty seemed to succumb most easily. Owing to this epidemic it be- 
came necessary as far as possible to isolate these cases. This was done in the individual rooms 
and also on the floors, two floors being used entirely for respiratory diseases, and one of these for 
pneumonias alone. There was practically no spread of the severe type of the disease among the 
patients in the hospital. The attendants wore caps, gowns and nose and mouth masks and almost 
entirely escaped the dread malady. 

The officers' mess was very fine and was enjoyed not only by the hospital staff, but also by 
Lts. Erskine, Sweeny, Brown and George, who fully appreciated the efforts of Bert Myering, 
Cook. 




Personnel of Hospital E 





Capt. George Van Rhee. Capt. Claude B. Gaines. 

With winter approaching, there being no stoves and the demand for hospital beds diminishing, 
the remaining patients were transferred to Hospital "A" and on December 30th, 1918, "The 
Pare" ceased to exist as a hospital. 

A short time before this every one connected with the institution was sorry to lose the com- 
manding officer, who at this time had been promoted to the rank of Lt.-Col. The sorrow, how- 
ever was of short duration, for not only did the hospital soon close, but Lt.-Col. McGraw was 
known to be sailing toward America, which to reach and to arrive at his home before Christmas 
was now his greatest desire. 

An event of great importance occurred at the Pare on Christmas Day when all the officers 
gathering together for the first time for over a year, enjoyed a most sumptuous dinner, prepared 
under the direction of Mess Officer Lt. Brown. 

The enlisted personnel of Hospital "E" was organized originally as follows: 

Sergeant in charge. . .Oley R. Blanchaed Mess — 

Night Sergeant Samuel G. Backus Geo. B. West 

T^ ^ c ^ <"^^ n ri^^^c-^ James L. Bradley 

Property Sergeant Geo. C. Herbst ^ , ,. 

^ ^^ Orderlies — 

Office Sergeant Sherman F. Kelly ^^^^^^ ^ Campbell 

Pharmacy Sergeant. . James Kent Erwin Wilfred Green 

Fatigue Sergeant Gerald F. Kelly Claud McDonald 

Mess Sergeant Leon Ouellette Clarence Knapp 

.Head Cook Herbert J. Myering Edmond Wilson 

o , ,- 1 T> ^„,„ u^.„ Joseph Giroux 

Second Cook Philip Bear -L 

Emanuel Christiansen 





Martha McDonald, A. N, C. 
Blanch Myers, A. N. C. 



Capt. Ward E. Collins. 

These men along with the later assignments, showed at all times a splendid devotion to duty, 
and co-operating with the staff and nurses, created for the Pare, a reputation of which they can 
be justly proud. 

The following figures will throw interesting light on the extensive work done at Hospital 
''E," during the comparatively short period of its existence as a mihtary hospital. 

Hospital "E" Report. From Opening April 7th, 1918, to December 8th, 1918 



Total number patients 2559 

Total number American 2547 

Total number Allies 7 

Total number Civilian 5 

Total number Deaths 48 

Deaths from Pneumonia 46 

Classification of Diseases 
General Diseases : 

Typhoid Fever 3 

Paratyphoid Fever 2 

Malaria 

Influenza 622 

Diarrhoea 96 



Tuberculosis, pulmonary 4 

Syphilis, total number 10 

secondary 4 

tertiary 6 

of nervous system 3 

vascular type 1 

other organs 6 

Cancer 

Rheumatism, acute articular 38 

Rheumatism, chronic articular 3 

Diabetes 

Exophthalmic Goitre 

Leukemia 




Kitchen at Hospital E 



Serving Room, Hospital E 



No Disease 12 

Diseases of Nervous System: 

Diseases of Spinal Cord 

War Neuroses, total 11 

1. Concussion 44 

2. Psychoneurosis 33 

Insanity 

Hysteria 1 

Malingering 

Epilepsy 3 

Diseases of Circulatory System: 

Disordered Action of the Heart 

( Functional ) 5 

Valvular Disease 4 

Arteriosclerosis 1 

Diseases of Respiratory System : 

Gas cases 982 

Bronchitis, acute 95 

Bronchitis, sub-acute 1 

Bronchitis, chronic 16 

Pneumonia, broncho 60 

Pneumonia, lobar ; total 80 

Right lower lobe 28 

Right upper lobe 20 

Left lower lobe 21 

Left upper lobe 11 

Pleurisy, total 16 

Pleurisy, dry 9 

Pleurisy, with effusion 1 

Empyema 4 



Asthma o 

Diseases of Digestive System : 

TonsiUitis, acute 16 

Tonsillitis, chronic 1 

Vincents Angina 1 

Gastric Ulcer 2 

Duodenal Ulcer 

Appendicitis 3 

Perforation of Bowel (Typhoid 

Fever) 1 

Cholecystitis 1 

Diseases of the Genito-Urinary System: 

Nephritis, acute 5 

Peri-Nephritic abscess 1 

Calculus of Kidney and Bladder. ... 

Gonorrhoea 

Alcoholism 1 

Suicide 

Exhaustion 76 

Diseases of the Skin: 

Eczema 1 

Erythema Nodosum 1 

Furunculosis 3 

Impetigo Contagiosa 5 

Psoriasis 1 

Pyodermia 5 

Scabies 29 

Tinea Cruris 1 

Urticaria, result A. T. S 2 

THEODORE A. McGR.AW, 

Lt. Col. M. R. C, U. S. A. 




Capt. Myrox William Clift 



Capt. Royston E. Scrafford 



X-Ray Laboratory, Base Hospital No. 36 

Jan. 8, 1919 

December 26, 1918. 

From: Capt. Royston E. Scrafford, Chief X-Ray Laboratory 

To : Commanding Officer, Base Hospital No. 36 

Subject: Report of Department, December 8th, 1917, to December 8th, 1918. 

Our first and Central X-Ray Laboratory was established in Hospital "B" December, 1917. 
This was very complete in equipment. Here also were the developing room and record and plate 
files for all radiographic work of the Unit. 

Owing to breakage of equipment in transit the second Laboratory in Hospital "A" was not 
installed until late in January. At this time arrangements were made for the rental of two French 
machines, a transformer and a coil from Societe des Eaux Minerales de Vittel. The transformer 
was installed in Hospital "C" and the coil in Hospital "D." Some months later there was an in- 
terchange of the machines of Hospital "A" and "D" owing to the heavy demands for X-Ray 
work at the latter place. 

The machines brought with the Unit have given satisfactory service. The bulk of plate and 
majority of fluoroscopic examinations were made with these machines. This was because of their 
speed and flexibility due to their Coolidge tube equipment, along with the lack of personnel to 
man each outfit. The French machines were used for Fluoroscopy principally during rush times, 
usually by Radiographers attached to the Unit for such periods. 

The attached report covers all Roentgenologic work shown by our records from December 
8th, 1917, to December 8th, 1918. 



The first classification gives the totals of all examinations, positive and negative, with dis- 
tinction between Fluoroscopic and plate examination. The following ones gives details of exam- 
ination for fractures, foreign bodies, etc., with their location and positive and negative findings. 

The first examination was made on December 27th, 1917. The total number of patients 
examined was 3541 of which 374 were French and 162 English. On these patients 4353 exam- 
inations were made. This does not include of the personnel, French Civilians, second examina- 
tions of the same individual for the same condition, nor more than 200 patients during the rush 
of the period of September. Of these latter we have no records, reports having been made only 
on the field card. 

From the above figures it is seen that 23.4% of the 15.097 patients received by Base Hos- 
pital No. 36 during the year were examined in this department, although the percentage of surgical 
cases examined would be much higher. 

ROYSTON E. SCRAFFORD, 

Captain, M. C, U. S. A. 

Plate and Film Examinations 
Fracture, Pathology, etc. 

Positive 

Cranium 39 

Mastoid 20 

Frontal Sinus 9 

Ethm.oid Sinus 3 

Sphenoid Sinus 

Antrum 11 

Orbit 2 

Dental Cases — Jaw 36 

Films of teeth 

Chest — Lungs, etc 

Ribs ; 4 

Spine — Cervical 1 

Thoracic 11 

Lumbar 11 

Clavicle . .^ 8 

Scapula 4 

Shoulder 

Humerus 47 

Klbow 

Ulna 27 

Radius 51 

Carpals 11 

Metacarpals 32 

Phalanges 31 

Gastro-Intestinal — Stomach 

Appendix 

Gall Bladder 

Kidney and Lumbar Region 1 

Pelvis 6 

Sacro-iliac 2 

112 



Negative 
19 


Total 
58 


13 


33 


14 


23 


3 


6 


1 


1 


9 


20 




2 


6 


42 




180 




205 


12 


16 


3 


4 


1 


12 


17 


28 


1 


9 




4 


19 


19 


5 


52 


13 


13 


7 


34 


9 


60 


2 


13 


11 


43 


3 


34 




20 




2 


1 


1 


6 


7 


2 


8 


16 


18 



Sacrum and Coccyx 3 

Kip Joint 1 

Femur 40 

Knee 3 

Patella 3 

Tibia 57 

Fibula 50 

Ankle, Potts 

Tarsals 36 

Metatarsals 21 

Phalanges 16 

Periostitis — Humerus 1 

Radius 1 

Femur 2 

Tibia 2 

Metatarsal 1 

Osteitis and Osteomyleitis — Humerus 5 

Rib 1 

Femur 1 

Tibia 10 

Phalanges 2 



3 


5 


13 


14 


10 


50 


19 


32 


1 


4 


13 


70 


15 


65 


63 


63 


17 


53 


20 


41 


6 


37 




1 




1 




2 


1 


3 




1 




5 




1 




1 




10 




2 



Fluoroscopic Examinations 

1. Foreign Bodies — Localization 

Positive 

Scalp 27 

Face 41 

Neck 33 

Back — Thoracic 43 

Lumbar 33 

Chest, F. B 17 

Shoulder 81 

Arm 60 

Elbow 17 

Forearm 43 

Hand and Wrist 66 

Abdomen 9 

Buttocks 80 

Pelvis 5 

Thigh 175 

Knee 34 

Leg 90 

Ankle— Foot 57 

Total 911 

Chest, Lungs 

Gostro-Intestinal — Stomach 

Appendix 



Negative 
42 


Total 
69 


19 


60 


21 


54 


11 


54 


25 


58 


36 


53 


93 


174 


120 


180 


13 


30 


36 


79 


95 


161 


7 


16 


33 


113 




5 


142 


317 


56 


90 


187 


277 


81 


138 


1017 


1928 




32 




15 




2 



113 



2. Fractures 

Clavicle 6 6 

Humerus 44 59 103 

Elbow 7 7 

Forearm 12 12 

Radius 41 3 43 

Ulna 42 1 43 

Wrist— Hand 112 61 173 

Femur 37 38 75 

Knee 1 11 12 

Patella 1 1 

Leg 98 98 

Tibia 45 45 

Fibula 32 32 

Ankle— Foot 45 57 102 

Total 406 346 752 

Plate Examinations 
Foreign Bodies — Localization 

Positive Negative Total 

Scalp 6 2 8 

Cranium 4 4 8 

FJye 10 30 30 

Orbit 8 3 11 

Temporal Region 1 1 

Maxilla 12 1 13 

Mandible 3 3 

Neck 9 4 13 

Shoulder 16 3 19 

Arm, upper 3 4 7 

Elbow 6 6 

Forearm 4 2 6 

Hand— Wrist 12 4 16 

Chest 12 2 14 

Thoracic Wall 5 1 6 

Lumbar and Abdominal Wall 2 2 

Hip— Groin 7 2 9 

Buttocks 3 3 

Thigh 5 5 

Knee 8 5 13 

Leg 6 8 14 

Foot— Ankle 8 2 10 

Total 150 67 217 

Record of All Examinations for the Most Common Fractures with the 
Percentage of Positive Findings 

Total Exams. Positive Percentage 

Cranium 58 39 67% 

Jaw 42 36 86% 

Ribs 16 4 25% 



Clavicle 34 

Humerus 155 

Radius 109 

Ulna 83 

Hand 263 

Femur 125 

Tibia 213 

Fibula 195 

Foot 218 

Record of All Examinations for Foreign Bodies with 
Positive Findings 

Total Exams. 
Cranium 8 

Eye 30 

Maxilla 13 

Scalp 77 

Face 60 

Neck 67 

Back — Thoracic 60 

Lumbar 60 

Chest 67 

Shoulder 193 

Arm, Upper '. 187 

Elbow 36 

Forearm 85 

Hand and Wrist 177 

Abdomen 16 

Buttocks . .• 116 

Pelvis 5 

Thigh 322 

Knee 103 

Leg 291 

Ankle and Foot 147 



17 


50% 


91 


59% 


92 


84% 


69 


83% 


186 


71% 


77 


62% 


102 


48% 


82 


42% 


118 


54% 


the Percentage of 


Positive 


Percentage 


4 


50% 


10 


33% 


12 


92% 


33 


43% 


41 


68% 


42 


63% 


48 


80% 


35 


58% 


29 


43% 


97 


50% 


63 


34% 


23 


64% 


49 


58% 


78 


44% 


9 


56% 


83 


72% 


5 


100% 


180 


56% 


42 


40% 


96 


33% 


65 


44% 




Source Salee 



X-RAY LABORATORY BASE HOSPITAL NO. 36 

Jan. 19, 1919. 

From : Capt. Royston E. Scrafford, Chief X-Ray Laboratory. 
To: Commanding Officer, Base Hospital No. 36. 

Subject: Report of Department, Dec. 8, 1918, to Jan. 13, 1919. 

1. The attached report is supplemental to that of our first year's work, 
and gives a classification of examinations made between Dec. 8, 1918, and 
the closing of the Records of Base Hospital 36 on January 13, 1919. 

ROYSTON E. SCRAFFORD, 

Capt, M. C, U. S. A. 

Plate and Film Examinations 
Fracture, Pathology, etc. 

Positive Negative Total 

Mastoid 1 1 2 

Frontal Sinus 4 5 9 

Antrum 9 9 

Dental Cases 15 

Maxilla 1 1 

Chest 20 

Scapula 1 1 

Shoulder 1 1 

Humerus 3 2 

Elbow 1 1 

Radius 4 4 

Ulna 1 1 

Kidney Region 1 1 

Ilium 2 2 

Lumbo-Sacral 3 3 

Femur...' 13 3 15 

Knee 6 6 

Patella 1 1 

Tibia 5 5 

Fibula 4 4 

Leg 1 1 

Ankle 6 6 

Oscalcis 3 2 4 

Foot 8 2 10 

Osteo-Myelitis : Tibia 1 1 

Fibula 1 1 

Total 126 



FLUOROSCOPIC EXAMINATIONS 
1. Foreign Bodies — Localization 

Positive Negative 

Shoulder 1 

Arm 1 

Thigh 1 

Leg 1 1 

Total 2 3 

2. Fractures 

Positive Negative 

Chest 

Gastro-Intestinal 

Appendix 1 

Wrist 4 

Tibia 1 

Fibula 1 

Total 7 

Plate Examinations 
Foreign Bodies — Localization 

Positive Negative 

Ankle 1 

Orbit 1 

Total 2 



Total 
1 

1 

1 

2 



Total 
4 

1 

1 

4 

1 

1 



12 



Total 
1 
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Lt. Anthony J. Font 



HISTORY OF THE CLINICAL LABORATORY OF BASE HOSPITAL NO. 36 




HIS history will of necessity be a mere sketch, for after five years it is impossible 
to give definite dates and figures from memory, and, unfortunately, all my papers 
were lost in a fire that destroyed my home shortly after my return from France, 
and I am now too far away from the personnel and records of Base Hospital 36 
to refresh my memory by consulting them. 

The history of the laboratory of Base Hospital 36 begins at Vittel, in Novem- 
ber, 1917, and ends, so far as I have knowledge of it, at Christmas, 1918, when I was ordered home. 
The Research Department of Base Hospital 36 was organized with Major (then Captain) M. W. 
Clift in command, and myself in charge of the Clinical Laboratory. Beside myself, Lieuten- 
ants Font and Scott S. Fay composed the commissioned personnel, but never more than one of 
the two lieutenants were assigned to laboratory duty at the same time. Sergeant Valentine Joe 
was at first the only enlisted man assigned to the clinical laboratory. Later Sergeant *Varoe 
and Private Christiansen were assigned, and Sergeant Joe was detached from Base Hospital 36. 

Work in the laboratory began as soon as the Hotel Ceres was in possession of the Unit. 
Rooms on the ground floor were secured, tables and benches were made from old packing cases, 
and our apparatus was set up. The laboratory was beginning to function smoothly when, to our 
great regret, we were deprived of the services of our chief. Captain Clift, who was detached from 
the Unit and ordered to Paris. 

Here the history of the Clinical Laboratory of Base Hospital 36 should end, for a reorganiza- 
tion of the Laboratory Service took place, taking the laboratories from the control of the indi- 
vidual Hospital Units, and consolidating them into a central laboratory, part in Vittel and part in 
Contrexeville, which was a quasi-independent unit of the Hospital Center. The reason for this 



change was, in part at least, the shortage of laboratory personnel and equipment in France. Some 
of the Hospital Units had come overseas much better equipped than others, and it was felt that a 
pooling and redistribution of resources would result in an economy of personnel and equipment 
that would make better work possible all round. Moreover, the organization of a central lab- 
oratory gave the Department of Laboratories of the A. E. F. a more direct control over laboratory 
activities. Doubtless these reasons were compelling, but the laboratory never became, other than in 
name, an independent unit of the center, because the laboratory personnel was not detached from 
the Hospital Units, but in matters of discipline, pay, and certain duties remained under the com- 
mand of the Hospital Commanders. It was most unfortunate that if the laboratory activities 
must be centralized, the laboratory, in its personnel, its equipment, and its quarters, was not com- 
pletely and definitely separated from the Hospital Units, and made solely responsible to the Com- 
manding Officer of the Hospital Center. The divided responsibility resulting from the situation 
as it existed, necessarily destroyed all unit of purpose in the Laboratory Service, both during the 
time I was in charge, and after my successor took control. 

I do not wish to be misunderstood. I am not, in word or thought, making criticism of my 
associates in Base Hospital 36, or in the Laboratory Service. On the contrary, my associates in 
the hospital exhibited always the utmost forbearance and unfailing consideration and kindness, 
and my associates in the laboratory used their utmost efforts for the good of the service. As a 
matter of fact, the situation was so difficult that without the greatest goodwill on the part of 
all, the laboratory could not have functioned. 

During the period the laboratory was controlled by the Hospital Unit, the work was purely 
clinical. After the reorganization clinical work was more and more pushed into the background, 
and the main function of the laboratory became research. Hundreds of autopsies were performed, 
and these, with the working up of the resulting material occupied a great deal of time. To my mind 
the most valuable work the laboratory did for Base Hospital 36 was the work in connection with 
a threatened outbreak of diphtheria in the summer of 1918. Hundreds of throat cultures were 
examined, and many carriers of the infection and patients suffering with the disease were de- 
tected and isolated. 

In August, 1918, Captain *Hutchinson was sent from the Central Laboratory at Dijon to take 
charge of the laboratories at Vittel and Contrexeville. At the same time I was appointed Sanitary 
Inspector of the Hospital Center, and my duties prevented a further active participation in the work 
of the laboratory. 

It is now of no interest to know the number and kinds of laboratory examinations made, and 
these statistics I am unable to furnish. Looking back on the work of the laboratory during the 
time Base Hospital 36 was in France, I feel that, considering the fact that, like the rest of the 
hospital, the laboratory worked with inadequate equipment, and with a personnel composed of 
men detached from and yet attached to four Base Hospitals locally organized and composed of 
personal friends, and that these local attachments naturally conflicted at times with the interests 
of the Hospital Center and the Department of Laboratories of the A. E. F., it served its purpose 
fairly well through the forbearance of the Hospital Staffs and the earnest efforts of the laboratory 
personnel. 

JOSEPH SILL, 
Capt. M. C, U. S. A. 



AN AMPLIFICATION OF DR. SILL'S ARTICLE 

When Base Hospital No. 36 was called into active service at The State Fair Grounds, De- 
troit, Michigan, August 20th, 1917, the laboratory personnel included Captain M. W. Clift, Chief ; 
Captain Joseph A. Sill, Lieutenant Scott C. Fay, Lieutenant Anthony J. Font, and private Val- 
entine P. Joe. 

Before mobilization the officers and enhsted personnel of the organization were given ty- 
phoid prophylaxis, the vaccine used being that supplied by one of the larger manufacturers of 
biological products. A subsequent order from the war department stated that prophylaxis would 
not be recognized unless the vaccine suppUed by the Army Medical School, Washington, D. C, 
was used. 

As a result of this order a series of experiments were undertaken to determine the degree 
of immunity attained with the commercial product. Twenty-four men were picked from the com- 
mand and their blood taken for the widal reaction. The experiments were carried out in the 
laboratories at Grace Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, through the courtesy of the Superintendent and 
Director of Laboratories of that institution. The Sera, of this group of twenty-four men were 
tested against typhoid, para-typhoid "A" and "B" after each of the three injections of the Army 
Medical School vaccine. The results of these experiments will be found elsewhere in this volume. 

October 27th, 1917, embarked for France. Landed Liverpool, England, November 10th, 
1917. Arrived Vittel, Vosges, France, November 17th, 1917. 

Soon after the arrival of the organization at Vittel, plans were drawn for estabhshing the 
laboratory. Three large, well lighted rooms on the second floor of Hospital "B" (Hotel Ceres) 
were chosen and early in Decemberj 1917, sufficiently equipped to carry on practically all routine 
clinical laboratory procedures. 

December, 1917. Privates first class John Anderson and Christenson reported to laboratory 
for duty. 

During the latter part of December, 1917, Captain James D. Matthews and Lieutenant Scott S. 
Fay were ordered to Paris to study the treatment of war wounds as employed by the French. 
Particular attention . was paid to the Carrel-Dakin technique. 

April 12th, 1918. Lieutenants Scott S. Fay and Anthony J. Font and Private Valentine P. 
Joe were ordered to proceed to Epernay, Marne, for instruction in wound bacteriology under 
Captain A. PoHcard of the French Army. Lectures were given by some of the leading bacteriol- 
ogists of France, and included the preparation of the different special culture media, particular 
stress being placed upon those used for the isolation and identification of streptococci and anaero- 
bic (gas gangrene) bacilli. Lectures were also given by Dr. W. Mestrezat, of the French Army, 
on shell shock and the changes in the spinal fluid in this condition. Transfusion of blood in 
the recently injured was also taken up, as was the different solutions of chlorine used for the 
continued irrigation of wounds. After this course we returned to Base Hospital No. 36. 

Bacteriological and cytological examinations held a very important position in the treatment 
of war wounds. On these examinations depended the proper time for wound closure. After 
our arrival at base 36 the central laboratory was established, combining the forces of Base Hos- 
pitals Nos. 36, 33 and 32, under the direction of Captain Joseph A. Sill. 

June, 1918. Lieutenant Scott S. Fay, transferred to Central Medical Department Labora- 
tories, for duty. 

Captain Sill was relieved from duty and Captain Humphreys reported for duty as chief of 
laboratory. 

July, 1918. Sergeant first class Joseph Varian, reports to Laboratory for duty. 

August 12th, 1918. Private Valentine P. Joe ordered to Central Medical Department Lab- 
oratories for duty. 



Of the original Base 36 Laboratory personnel only one officer was able to return with the 
unit. Captain Humphreys afterwards took charge of the Hospital Center Laboratory. 

Captain Sill, our former chief, was made Sanitary Inspector of the post. 

The departure of Lieutenant Scott Fay was regretted by the whole unit. In Lt. Fay we had 
the most brilliant member of our laboratory personnel. His modesty and his pleasing personality 
won the admiration, not only of the laboratory f orce who worked with him, but also of the other 
members of the unit. 

November, 1918. Lieutenant Anthony J. Font was ordered to the Army of Occupation. 

After Captain Humphreys took charge of the Hospital Center Laboratories at Vittel, it con- 
tinued as a unit by itself, not being part of any particular Base, officers from the different 
Bases, were assigned to duty there. Most of the officers and enhsted personnel from 36 were 
either relieved from duty or assigned to some other units, Base Hospital 36 laboratory original 
personnel being practically gone. 

ANTHONY J. FONT, M. D., 

1st Lieutenant, M. C, U. S. A. 

Laboratory Work Done for B. H. 36 

Work done for Work done in 
Work done in B. H. 36 B. H. 36 

Examinations B. H. 36 Lab. in Central Lab. Subsidiary Labs. Total 
Urines 513 238 139 890 

Throat Cultures 164 2031 . . . 2195 

Wound Bacteriology 80 463 . . . 543 

Sputums 370 133 64 567 

LTrethral Smears 27 7 ... 34 

Autopsies 11 102 ... 113 

Pathological 50 5 ... 55 

Dark Field 7 4 ... 11 

Vaccines 11 8 ... 19 

Blood Counts 208 134 177 519 

Blood Cultures 8 22 ... 30 

Spinal Fluids 8 39 ... 47 

Stomach Contents 11 5 ... 16 

Feces 44 50 ... 94 

Throat Swabs and Cultures 

(Meningitis) 81 ... 81 

Malaria 5 1 ... 6 

Widals 2 ... 2 

Miscellaneous Bacteriological... 61 18 ... 79 

Miscellaneous 2 9 ... 11 

Blood Grouping 236 19 ... 19 

JWassermann Tests Ill 42 ... 153 

Total 5484 

$Wassermann Tests were all made at U. S. Army Laboratory No. 1 or at the 
Contrexeville Branch of the Central Laboratory Hosp. Center, A. P. O. 732. 

122 



Jan. 8, 1919 

Report of Deaths (classified according to cause of death) Dec. 8, 1917-Jan. 1, 1919 

Asphyxia — Foreign body 1 

Abscess lung 1 

Apoplexy 1 

Cardiac renal insufficiency 1 

Dilation heart, acute 3 

Diphtheria 2 

Ethmoiditis (compHcation) 1 

Hemorrhage, femoral artery 3 

Hemorrhage, internal jugular vein 1 

Hemorrhage, secondary and high 1 

Ileus 1 

Influenza, acute 1 

Gas gangrene 14 

Gas, inhalation (pulmonary edema) 2 

GSW, chest 8 

GSW, head, fracture skull 7 

GSW, spine 7 

GSW, abdomen 2 

Mastoid disease (complications) 2 

Nephritis, acute 1 

Meningitis, cerebro-spinal 1 

Pneumonia, lobar .^ 42 

Pneumonia, bronchial 42 

Peritonitis, following appendectomy 6 

Septicemia 6 

Scarlet fever 1 

Sinusitis, frontal (complication) 1 

Typhoid fever 4 

Undetermined 1 

Total number deaths 143 

Headquarters Hospital Center A. P. O. 732 

GENERAL ORDERS October 30, 1918. 

NO. 21 

1. The Commanding Officer of the Hospital Center, A. P. O. 732, wishes to express his 
appreciation of the services rendered the Allied cause by the members of the A. E. F. of 
this Center during the recent emergency. The results obtained were highly gratifying and 
show that the realization of a sense of duty has in this Center kept pace with that of the 
men in the Zone of the Advance. With the extreme shortage of personnel, inevitable dur- 
ing active offensive operations, and this personnel depleted through illness, over 8,100 pa- 
tients were properly cared for at one time and during a period of rapid evacuation of the 
sick and wounded out of this Center. 

2. The spirit shown is what is winning the war. 

3. This order will be published on all bulletin boards. 

By order of Lieut. Col. Rukke : 

A. C. CALISH, 
1st Lt. San. Corps, U. S. A. 

Adjutant. 



Conference On Surgery at the Base 

Report of Base Hospital 36, from December 8, 1917, to December 8, 1918 
Lieut. -Col. B. R. Shurly, Commanding 

1. General. 

1. What is the total number of admissions to your hospitals? 15,097. 

2. What is the number of deaths? 134. 
How many deaths from pneumonia? 60. 

3. What is the number of surgical cases? 7,541. No. of deaths? 65. 

Among these how many were caused by pneumonia ? Four septic pneumonia, f ollowmg 
lung injury, and five lobar pneumonia. 

4. How long should abdominal cases be held at the front before transportation? At least 

7 to 10 days. 

5. How do through and through chest cases travel? As a rule well; no harm seen. 

6. What type of cases are most injured by travel? 
1. Abdominal cases. 

3. Chest cases ; sucking. 

3. Large vessel injury. 

4. Head. 

7. What is the comparative condition of wounds arriving at the Base with : 
o. Dry gauze? Good, if not packed; poorly if packed. 

b. Dichloramine T. ? No experience. 

c. Protective? No experience. 

d. Rubber tubes? Good, with very light gauze, no packing. 

e. Carrel-Dakin? Poor. 

f. Vaseline gauze? No cases. 

g. Bipp ? No cases. 

h. Flavine? No cases. 

2. Gas Gangrene. 

1. To what extent, if at all, do the following predispose to gas gangrene? 

a. Ligation of main artery of a limb ? Destruction or ligation, great factor. 

b. Tight bandages? Decidedly. 

c. Tight packing of wound ? A factor. 

d. Insufficient debridement? Yes. 

e. Low vitality from shock and hemorrhage? Yes. 

2. What is the indication for a local operation? Possible debridement of all destroyed 

tissue, providing there is good circulation, drainage and favorable constitutional symp- 
toms. 

3. What is the value of anti-gas serum? None obtainable. 

4. Is it justifiable to base local operation or amputation on the bacteriological findings alone?- 

No. 

5. Is the general range for temperature high or low? Temp, is moderately high. Pulse 

high or low? Pulse weak and rapid. 

6. How frequently does gas gangrene attack tissues other than muscles? Also affects fat, 

skin, and fascia. 



3. Debridement. 

1. What is included in good debridement? A good debridement is one with complete excision 

of all trumatized or devitalized structure made through healthy tissue. Preserving large 
blood vessels and motor nerves, providing for complete hemostasis, drainage, and the 
application of a loose dressing. (No packing.) 

2. What errors in debridement have you noted? The error of removing too little tissue on 

the one hand, and on the other hand the unnecessary removal of skin and especially 
fascia. Lack of hamostasis, tight packing and insufificient drainage. 

4. Tetanus. 

1. How many cases ? None. 

2. Results? A. T. S. prevents tetanus. 

3. Are there any contra-indications to giving a second dose of antitetanic serum? No. 

4. Have you seen local tetanus ? No. 

5. Discuss late tetanus; cause; prevention. No cases have been seen. 

5. Delayed Primary Closure of Wounds. 

1. Bacteriological control or cHnical judgment? Clinical. 

2. Average time after primary operation? Four days. 

3. Percentage of successes? 100%. 

4. Has there been loss of life or limb following failure? None. 

6. Pre-operative Cases. 

1. What type of cases need no operation? Through and through chest, by rifle, machine gun. 

Fractures if properly splinted. Minor wounds, and perforating wounds of extremity. 

2. How have cases evacuated without operation (pre-operative) done? With exception of 

destruction or ligation of main artery, head and abdomen, and gas gangrene infection, 
most all cases have been received in good condition. 

3. List the types of cases suitable for evacuation without operation. Through and through, 

uncomplicated, perforating or penetrating wounds of the extremity. Through and 
through chest with rifle or machine bullet and minor wounds. Fractures, properly 
splinted. 

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the pre-operative train? Permits treatment 

to be given to the greatest number in the shortest time. Disadvantage? Congestion 
of the evacuation hospital, without pre-operative train. 

7. Chest Surgery. 

1. What are the indications for operation in the front area? Sucking wounds. Hemorrhage. 

Large foreign bodies. 

2. What are the indications for operation at the Base? Sepsis calls for drainage. Removal 

of large foreign bodies. Aspiration of pleural cavity for hemothorax (after an interval 
of one week). 

3. Discuss the anesthesia — the operative technique. Local, if possible. Depage formula, 

modified by Capt. Gaudel has proved very satisfactory. Formula: Ether 96 c.c, 
Ethyl Chi. 22 c.c, Chloroform 2 c.c. ; dose, 22 to 30 c.c. on mask devised by Gaudel. 
Nitrous Oxide with oxygen was not available for any of our cases. 

4. Discuss the after-treatment. Rest — half sitting position— watching chest for symptoms, 

aspiration of blood if necessary, drainage of septic, with use of Carrel-Dakin solution. 



8. Secondary Hemorrhage. 

1. In what type of cases does it commonly occur? Vessel wall injuries, by shrapnel, or ma- 

chine gun bullet, and infection. None seen from the use of Carrel-Dakin solution. 

2. Should first indication be Hgation or temporizing? Ligation. 

3. What are the predisposing causes of secondary hemorrhage? Injury to blood vessel and in- 

fection. 

4. What is the general treatment? After control of hemorrhage — transfusion of blood, pre- 

ceded by normal saline, if blood is not immediately available. 

9. Knee-joints. 

1. In through and through machine gun or rifle wounds, how do non-operative compare with 

operative results? Uncomplicated through and through do better with non-operative 
treatment. 

2. In debridement, do you advise — 

a. Complete closure? Yes. 

b. Closure of capsule and fascia? If possible. 

c. Leaving the wound entirely open? No. 

3. Is shattering the head of the tibia or of the condyles of the femur the more serious? We 

believe the femur. 

4. What types of knee injury demand immediate amputation? Loss of blood vessels — exten- 

sive loss of bone— severe comminuted. 

5. What type of infection and what extent of involvement of the joint demands amputation? 

Gas gangrene infection, uncontrollable sepsis with extensive destruction of joint, call 
for amputation. 

6. In knee-joint injury and infection, has more error been made in conserving or in amputat- 

ing ? In conserving. 

7. What effect has excision of the patella on the function of the joint? No experience. 

8. Compare mobilization with immobilization in the treatment of joints. Preference immo- 

bilization of joint, with extension — passive motion later. 

9. What is your estimate of the value of antiseptic treatment of knee joints? Not neces- 

sary; ample drainage sufficient, with tubes to capsule, but not entering joint. 

10. Antiseptics. 

1. Compare the principle of chemical antiseptics with the principle of non-chemical treatment 

of infected wounds. Non-chemical is satisfactory with ample drainage, Carrel-Dakin 
is necessary for closure. 

2. List antiseptics in order of the availability for battle conditions at the front — at the Base. 

At the Front — Dichloramine T. Iodine. At the Base — Carrel-Dakin. 

11 . Anesthetics. 

1. How do you value the nurse anesthetist? Excellent. 

2. In what cases and under what circumstances may local anesthesia be used? Regional? 

Spinal? Local anesthesia may be used chest and head, minor wounds. Spinal, no 
experience. 

3. In what cases is gas and oxygen especially indicated ? Short operation. Long, only with 

expert anesthetist. 

4. Has the type of anesthetic used influenced results? No deaths. 

5. Do you value Depage's anesthesia ? As modified by Capt. Gaudel. Yes. Very desirable 

for war surgery. 

126 



13. Fluids. 

1. Compare sodium bicarbonate with normal saline in treatment of shock and hemorrhage. 

Equal, by rectum. 
2 Compare intravenous saline infusion with giving water by mouth or rectum, or sub- 
cutaneous. Intravenous method more immediate in its effects. Results otherwise the 



same. 



3. Compare gum-salts with salines. No cases with gum. 

Compare gum-salts with blood. Blood preferable in all cases, if classified. 

4. Have you noted any ill effects from gum- salts? None used. 

13. Blood Transfusions. 

1. What method preferred ? Citrated blood method. 

2. Have there been any serum reactions when properly grouped ? None. 

3. What results in prolonged infections? Repeated blood transfusion has failed to save hfe. 

Without benefit. 

4. Discuss available sources, difficulties encountered, etc. Personnel, and patients, of hospital 

were grouped, and often patients were evacuated soon after being grouped. 

14. Amputations. 

1. What is the value of the guillotine operations? Speed only. Prefer flaps turned back. 

14. Amputations (continued) 

2. Is the medio-tarsal amputation justifiable? Probably no, in war surgery. 

3. Compare the Symes and the lower third amputation? Prefer the lower third of leg. 

4. Is the rule that the stumps of the lower extremities shall have no terminal scar a good one? 

No. 

On the upper extremities is the terminal scar always correct? Yes. 

5. Are amputations through the knee joint recommended? No. 

6. Shall the bones of all stumps be left with parallel or conical shape? Conical. 

7. How near the knee joint, may amputation be made? Three inches below knee. 

8. How near the elbow joint? Not less than two inches. 

9. Through the elbow joint? No never. 

15. Head Injuries. 

1. Should all lacerations of the scalp be explored surgically for fracture? Yes. 

2. Discuss foreign bodies in the brain. All large foreign bodies should be removed if com- 

patible with the preservation of life and especially if they cause symptoms. 

3. Is the magnet useful in extracting foreign bodies? Valuable at times if foreign body is 

magnetic. 

4. Have you had late abscesses? Yes. 

16. . Hospital Problems. 

1. What improvement can you suggest in the arrangement of the standard American Base 

Hospital ? 

Larger personnel of officers, nurses and men. 

2. What are the advantages and limitations of a surgical team? The disadvantage is not be- 

ing able to place the responsibility of after-treatment and paper work, of their cases. 

3. What should be the size of a Mobile Hospital? No experience. 

4. What should be the equipment of a Mobile Hospital? No experience. 

5. What should be the function of a Mobile Hospital? No experience. 

6. Is it best to have special hospitals,— such as head, chest, fractures or to have special 

wards for such cases in General Hospital? Special wards. 



7. Suggestions as to, — 
1. Surgical Instruments. 

a. Quality? Many were inferior. 

b. Types? Some were ancient. 

c. Quantity? Insufficient. Specially forceps and scissors. 

2. Dressings. Sufficient quantities, good character. Sterilization was imperfect. 

3. Special Types. Squares and pads preferred. 

4. Bandages. 

a. Special. Were satisfactory. 

b. Splints. Army splints, as a rule, were lound excellent. Criticism might be made 
of the Jones Cock-up splint. The too tight application of the Jones. 




Top Row — On Board Orduna — Convalescent Soldiers. Lower Row — Our l^Iascot at Fair Ground — On Board 

Ship — Morning Ablutions 




Top Row — Wrcikcd Gcnnan Balloon — Miss Medhnrst — Coiwalcsccnf Soldicis Second Row — O. R. Sources — 
Frank A. Day — Officers Vdla. Third Row — Miss Hammo>id Typing — Miss Cooper — Candy Day at Commis- 
sary Department. Bottom Row — Cutting the Grass — Convalescents at Sources — 0«i for a Drive — The Backward 

Way to Jail 

129 





Mrs. Betsey Lx)ng Harris, A. N. C. 
Chief Nurse, Base Hospital No. 36, A. E. F.. 

HISTORY OF THE NURSING DEPARTMENT 

ARLY in April Dr. Shurly asked me to ser\e as Chief Nurse of Base Hospital 
No. 36, which meant the recruiting of sixty-five nurses from a territory that had 
already been called upon to furnish the nursing personnel of Base Hospital 
No. 17. Before a week had passed ten applications had been received and for- 
warded to Washington, and from this time on it was a rush to get the papers in 
order, as the applications came thick and fast. From Toledo came a request from 
sixteen nurses to join our unit, and these were ultimately enrolled. 

On June 24th thirty-two nurses attended the special service at Christ Church, conducted 
by Dr. Maxon, a ceremony which brought home to us the seriousness and solemnity of the task 
we were undertaking. 

Early in July we had about completed our enrollment, when Dr. Shurly returned from Wash- 
ington with the almost discouraging news that we must enlarge our hospital to a thousand-bed 
unit — ^which meant the enrollment of thirty-five nurses more. The first of September found this 
work completed and all were ready to start when the orders came. 

We left Detroit for New York at 13 :55 P. M., September sixth, and arrived at General 
Hospital No. 1 the next day. Here we remained during a month of pleasant weather while the 
nurses were given drills in military tactics and w^ere outfitted by the Red Cross. On September 
29th we were moved to St. Mary's Hospital, in Hoboken, where we remained till our departure for 
"over there," on October 27th. The sailing orders were most gratefully received, as we were 
tired of the waiting from day to day, not knowing what an hour would bring forth. It was also 
a pleasure to join the rest of the Unit, as this was the first time that we had all been together. 



The days of passage across the Atlantic a nd the two days' stop at Halifax, meant a real 
rest to some of us, and even the terrors of the submarine failed to eclipse our enjoyment of this 
part of our journey. 

Arriving at Liverpool on November 11th, we were separated from the men and sent to a 
hotel for the night. We were splendidly cared for by the British officers, in whose charge we were 
placed, and two days later crossed the Channel on the hospital ship Panama, arriving at Le Havre 
about ten A. M. November 13th. Here we were met by American officers and distributed 
among five hotels, some of which were fair, and others just poor — none really good, but no one 
complained, for we were ready for the experiences of war. 

In the midst of a Zeppelin raid, we left Le Havre for the final stage of our journey, to Vittel. 
We were sent on a special train, made up of old first-class coaches for the officers and nurses 
and the "chevaux 8, hommes 40" for the men. We had rations of crackers and cheese, beans 
and salmon issued during the journey, but nothing to drink except "vin ordinaire," as no good 
water was obtainable. We were forty-one hours on this journey, and when we tumbled ofi^ the 
train at Vittel late the following night we were cold and stiflf and very homesick. 

The first three weeks in Vittel were spent in getting settled in our new quarters and in put- 
ting in shape for patients the five big hotels which were to serve for hospital buildings. The 
weather was intensely cold, and there were no stoves in our quarters. How cold one could be and 
yet "carry on" few of us had realized up to this time. Many of the nurses were taken ill, and 
at Christmas time there were about eighteen of them in hospital. One nurse was sent to Chau- 
mont, as it was feared she would need treatment which could not be given at our hospitals. 

December first twelve nurses were sent to Vaucouleurs for service with the Forty-second 
Division. Shortly after, four more were sent to Paris to make dressings at the Red Cross head- 
quarters there. 

The nurses who had been sent to Vaucouleurs returned to us on December 23rd, and Miss 
Jennie Abramson, who was in charge of them, has written the following account of their expe- 
riences : 
"Thanksgiving Day, November 2pth, 1917 

Received orders today to go on detached service, with the Forty-second Division at Vaucou- 
leurs. We will leave Vittel on the first, at six A. M. 
December first 

We arose at five and at 6 :15 the auto truck arrived to take us to Vaucouleurs, via Neufchateau. 
The captain in charge urged us to "make it snappy," as we were already forty-five minutes late 
in starting. 

Five doctors and twelve nurses climbed into the big truck, with our duffle bags, which we were 
obliged to use for seats. It was a cold, damp morning, and we were bundled in sweaters, coats 
and blankets, with a few scattered hot-water bottles. At 8 :30 we arrived at Neufchateau, much 
bespattered with mud, where we discovered we had missed the morning train and would have to 
wait for the one leaving at four in the afternoon. The nurses were delighted to have an oppor- 
tunity to explore this quaint old town. We found it full of American soldiers, from neighboring 
camps, who had come in to attend the funeral of a comrade. 

We left Neufchateau on time, arriving at Vaucouleurs after darkness had fallen. Ambu- 
lances were waiting to convey us to Chalaine, a distance of about a mile. Major Fairchild greeted 
us very pleasantly, after which we were conducted to our supper. For the first time since our 
arrival in France we ate white bread, and it was indeed a treat. Our quarters are quite comfort- 
able — six beds in each room — and a grate fire in both rooms. 



December second 

After a hearty breakfast of cereal, pancakes, bacon, toast and coffee, Major Fairchild took 
us through the hospital, which is situated in an old chateau built in 1552, and in two portable 
buildings. The owner of the chateau, Mme. Albert Gillon, lost her husband during the first year 
of the war. Later she turned her home over to the French Government to use as a hospital. 
All modern conveniences are lacking, and we have running water in the kitchen only. 

We found about 75 cases of mumps and measles in the loft of the barn. The French cots 
were very close together, and the air foul. A smoking stove added to the closeness of the 
atmosphere, but the boys said they did not mind the smoke as much as the cold. 

In the chateau were the more serious cases of pneumonia, meningitis, typhoid, scarlet fever, 
diphtheria, and other conditions. In the barracks were the less serious cases, about forty patients 
being in each building. 

The nurses were assigned to duty, and a more willing group I have never seen. There was 
much work to be done, and they did it cheerfully with good results. In a short time the patients, 
the corps men, and the officers were singing their praises. 

The surrounding country is very beautiful. The River Meuse flows directly in front of the 
chateau, and the park, in the midst of which the chateau is located, is very lovely. The village of 
Vaucouleurs is visible, and with a background of beautiful, sloping hills, the view is wonderful. 

Fire occurred in the neighborhood one evening, and when the fire- fighters arrived they decided 
it was too near supper time to start fighting the fire, and they all went home to supper. When they 
returned they decided they were not wearing suitable clothing, and again they went home. When 
they returned again they found the building in ruins and no fire to fight. (This sounds like a 
story that might have been made up by American doughboys to illustrate their idea of the French 
deliberateness.) 

December sixth 

This morning we received orders to pack tlie hospital equipment and prepare to move at a 
moment's notice. We heard all sorts of exciting rumors. Yesterday an aeroplane battle took 
place a short distance from here. The big guns have been booming all day, and the popping 
of the small ones has been continuous. The Forty-second Division is moving out of this section. 

The neighboring village, Vaucouleurs, is very quaint. It was here Jeanne d'Arc visited the 
governor on her peculiar mission. We visited the ruins of the "Porte de France," where she 
first received her troops, in 1429. Another interesting feature is the small underground chapel, in 
which the Maid prayed in behalf of France. The chapel itself, the altar and shields are all beau- 
tifully preserved, but the statuary is quite modern. 

December eighth 

We sent 75 mumps and measles patients to Vittel today. The climate is very hard on these 
boys. A good many of them have come from southern states, and seem to be easily affected with 
anything, from mumps to pneumonia. However, they are perfectly wonderful patients, and in 
spite of cold quarters and very little nursing care, they never complain. 

December twenty-third 

Returned to Vittel today, leaving Chalaine at one o'clock in a motor ambulance, which had 
been sent for us. It was quite a load, four nurses, two patients, an officer and the driver. The 
distance is about forty miles, and the weather was very cold. 

(Extracts from Miss Abramson's Diary.) 






M 




1 


LI 


H^sEll. 






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^mH 




^.1 


^^B 


HS^H 




i 


■i 


iH 



Office of Chief Nurse. 



Alibs 1. AitLixDE Havey, a. N. C. 
Assistant Chief Nurse. 

Early in December we received our first patients, 400 soldiers suffering with mumps and 
measles. We had very little equipment, practically nothing but beds and blankets. Stoves were 
our greatest trouble. Such inadequate, tiny affairs were those that we had been able to get from 
the French, that they seemed only to make the discomfort more intense. One of the most moving 
sights was a nurse trying to prepare toast for twenty-eight light diets on one of these tiny 
stoves, with coal that was simply dust. Early in December six nurses were sent on detached 
service to Chaumont, where they served with the Roosevelt Hospital Unit. 

By December 10th we had 349 patients, and a large number of our own personnel were ill. 
This was, I think, the most trying time of our service. The nurses' mess had not been estabHshed, 
and we were "farmed out" with the French, which was most unsatisfactory, as some of the nurses 
fared badly. The weather was very cold and gloomy, the sun not appearing for ten days at a 
stretch. It was a soul-trying time, but for the most part the nurses stood it well and waited with 
what patience they could for things to straighten out. 

Early in January the Nurses' Club was started by the Y. W. C. A., and Miss Marion Porter 
was placed in charge. Miss Porter remained with the unit until we left Vittel, and will always 
be remembered with much love and gratitude for her faithful and untiring efforts in behalf of 
the nurses. The bar-room of the Hotel des Sports, one of the nurses' residences, made a won- 
derful club room, after it had been transformed under Miss Porter's capable and artistic hands. 
Here, every afternoon, tea was served to those nurses and officers who were off duty and cared to 
come, and many times the place was crowded to its capacity. Often officer patients came here, 
and among them were many who are now known among the distinguished of those who served in 
the A. E. F. Later a wonderful building was erected for the Club by Major G. Hunter Brown, 
who was in charge of the Red Cross work in our center. 



The building was wonderfully planned and decorated. It was here we entertained Miss Mar- 
garet Wilson, our president's daughter, who came to sing to our patients. Unfortunately, this 
building was not finished until November, 1918, so we had a very short time in which to enjoy it. 

From March first until we closed our hospital there was always work for the nurses. Sev- 
eral times small detachments were sent to the front. Four nurses from our unit and four from 
B. H. No. 23 were sent to Compiegne for two weeks in March, to learn the technic of the Carrel- 
Dakin and Ambrine treatment, at the hospitals there. The Germans were bombing Compiegne 
continuously at this time, and on the last day of the nurses' stay a bomb was dropped directly on 
the big white cross, in the hospital courtyard, breaking every window in the hospital building. 

Early in May eight nurses were sent to Field Hospital No. 168 with the Forty-second Divi- 
sion, at Baccarat. These nurses stayed several weeks, and were replaced with others, seeing service 
with the 42nd, the 37th, and the 77th Divisions. 

Following is a brief account of the experience of the nurses of one detachment which was 
sent to Coulomaires, written by Miss Ethel Lickley: 

"A detachment of three ofificers, two nurses and two enlisted men left Vittel about 7 :30 
P. M., July 7th, and picked up two nurses from Base Hospital No. 32 at Contrexeville, who 
were also a part of a surgical team going to Coulomaires. We travelled continuously until five 
o'clock of the following afternoon, stopping only for short intervals to procure refreshment in 
the small villages through which we passed. When we finally reached our destination we found 
we were just outside Coulomaires, which is quite an important railway center. The hospital was 
on a hill back of the town, located in an old chateau, which was surrounded by tents, in which 
were located Mobile Hospital No. 1 and Evacuation Hospital No. 7. We were not a great dis- 
tance from Chateau Thierry, and I have never been in a busier place. The chief nurse kindly 
found us a tent containing just army cots and blankets. There we rested for a few hours, after 
having mess in an open tent. Soon we were called to report for duty, and our team was given 
two operating tables in the chateau. We were busy after that for two weeks, working all the 
time night and day, helping to take care of that endless line of wounded which was constantly 
pouring in. The wounded men were brought from the front on stretchers, and many had to 
wait on the ground in the open, until they could be attended to by the surgical teams. Some days 
we were not as busy, but others we worked as fast as possible, and then were not able to care for 
some of the men before they died. We were forced to don our helmets one night because of a 
threatened air raid, but nothing came of it, and we were glad when the lights were turned on 
again and we were able to continue our work. 

The lines were moving very rapidly, and soon Mobile Hospital No. 1 packed up and followed 
the soldiers nearer the front. In about two weeks the Commanding Officer of our Base sent for 
us as we were needed there. 

I shall never forget the wonderful courage and spirit of those wounded men who came pour- 
ing in, a seemingly never ending line." 




Kcd Cross Parade, New York. 



Red Cross Parade, Oetober, igi/. Fifth Ave. 



A letter written by Miss Lickley, written at this time will give a further idea of what the 
nurses experienced : 
"Dear Mrs. Harris: 

"We arrived safely after a very tiring but interesting trip. We rested a short time Thurs- 
day night and then went on duty until one A. M. Friday, and have been working hard ever 
since. We are far from being comfortably situated, six of us being housed in a small tent 
which leaks furiously when it rains, and that is daily; but sleeping in wet beds, wading in mud, 
and working long hours, seems very little when we see our boys brought in, all wounded and 
broken in body with spirits undaunted and still able to smile. 

"This is a large place and hundreds of patients go through here daily. No doubt you have 
some of the very ones who came through here as we hear you are very busy there also. 

"Isn't it wonderful the things our boys and the Allies are doing at the front? 

"We are hoping that we won't be needed away from our Base too long as it seems like being 
far away from home. Miss Keel sends her love and will be as happy as I to return. Much 
love to all the girls, yourself and Miss Havey. 

Sincerely, 

E. M. Lickley. 

"P. S. Should any of the rest leave on surgical teams, tell them to be sure to take boots, 
sleeping bags, blankets and warm clothing as we need them." 

Our work increased during the summer, reaching it's height late in September. At one time 
there were 10,000 patients in the center. At times we had more than it seemed possible to do. 
Trains of wounded came in, and everyone worked, till the patients were cared for. This meant 
often, that the nurses worked forty and fifty hours at a stretch, but I never heard them com- 
plain. 

When it was possible, the nurses were on straight eight hour duty, and frequently, after an 
evacuation of a large number of patients, it was possible to give them in turn, a few days ofif duty. 
We were not allowed much leave, so unfortunately saw very little of the country. 

Recreation consisted of dances, picnics on the lovely surrounding hills, and walks to the 
nearer villages. Much interest was taken by the nurses, in the "Twilight" baseball series and the 
games played with other hospital teams. Small parties were sent in ambulances to visit the 
home of Jeanne d'Arc at Domremy, a short distance from Vittel. 

The restricted association with the enlisted men, was felt to be a hardship by some of the 
nurses, who had relatives and friends in the ranks. Others seemed to be able to adjust them- 
selves easily to this handicap. 

The "Flu" came in the fall of 1918 and we lost two non-commissioned officers by this ter- 
rible disease. A number of the nurses were ill, two seriously so, but none died. Miss Maud 
McGlynn had been sent home in the preceeding month, of March with a diagnosis, of phthisis. 
Miss McGlynn never recovered, and died in May, 1919. She was a woman of sweet and cour- 
ageous character, uncomplainingly doing her duty as long as she was able. 

After the Armistice, the nurses were allowed some of their accumulated leave and many of 
them went to Paris and the Riviera. Ten nurses were permanently detached, and sent to Ger- 
many with the American troops. We felt the parting severely as we realized that this was the 
beginning of the end, and that very soon we should see the Unit disbanded, and the pleasant asso- 
ciations of a year and a half would be a thing of the past. 

Some of our officers left us in December and nurses were sent to Chaumont. On February 
16th, 1919, the men of the Unit left enroute for home, and the nurses followed in two detach- 
ments going via Paris to La Baule where we remained about a week. La Baule is a beautiful 
place, and the nurses had many interesting trips to surrounding towns. 





Nurses, Base Hospital No. 36, Vittel. 

Our Maids, Hotel des Sports and Ki-Ki. 

We left on a special train for Brest, February 26th, with the nurses from Base Hospital No. 
17 who had arrived at La Baule at about the same time that we had come. The train was slow, 
so we did not arrive at Brest till midnight. We were put into ambulances and taken out to Base 
Hospital No. 65, a very tired and hungry lot of nurses. Here we stayed for five days, rather 
uncomfortably as the camp was crowded, the weather rainy most of the time and the mud was 
deep. 

March 3rd we sailed for home on the U. S Transport Agamemnon and arrived in New 
York March 11th. After a few days, those who wished, were sent to Detroit on a special train 
provided for us, and the nurses of B. H. No. 17 by the good citizens of Detroit. Unfor- 
tunately the rain was pouring down on our arrival, which rather spoiled the parade, but we 
were glad to be at last with friends, and feel that our work was done and we could retire with 
honor to the rank of civilian nurse. 

I cannot close without paying a tribute to the courageous spirit of these women, who went 
forth to an experience which was new and trying in the extreme. They accomplished the work 
they were sent to do, and they gave of their strength, their sympathy and their material goods, 
without stint, doing honor to those, who, with money and encouragement assisted them to prepare 
for this mission. Many letters were received by the nurses from patients who had moved on, 
and I will conclude this brief account with a letter, which seems most characteristic : 

"Base Hospital No. , Sept. 12, 1918. 

"My dear Nurse: 

"Just a few lines as I promised and also it's one way I can show my appreciation for the 
good care which I -received while there. 

"Now, Miss P , we sure did get good care while we were there, but since I arrived here, 

there hasn't been any nurse around to fix up my arm, just the doctor. But it's coming around all 
right. Now I'll say this place hasn't anything on Base No. 36, we are not in hotels here, just 
everyday barracks and no ice cream and good cake in fact no cake. And cigarettes they seem 
to be pretty scarce. Well you can just consider yourself in one of the best hospitals in France. 
I sure am glad it was my stopping place, for the first few weeks, after I got hit. And to com- 
pare the way we were treated there, and the way we are treated here. Your Base, for mine, any 
time. And to tell the truth, we sure do think a lot of our Red Cross nurses and doctors, that are 
at Base No. 36. Now that don't mean that we have anything against our nurses here. As we 
sure do think a lot of our Red Cross nurses, that are here in France. But you girls at Base No. 
36 were sure gold bricks and we sure did appreciate your kindness, that was the first ice cream 
I had since I left God's country, and I'm afraid it will be the last until my return to the States. 

"Well, Miss P , I'm not going to write a long letter this time, just a note. Let me 

know if you have seen anything of that helmet, I told the orderly, if it came, to give to you. 



"I won't write much more this time. But remember me to any of the nurses there that I 
know, and don't forget a few lines quite often will be welcome. So in your spare time write. I 
don't believe they are working you as hard as they did when we were there. If they are, you 
won't have a lot of time to write. Well I expect a reply anyway. Yesterday they wanted to know 
what I could do for my Country. So suppose they have a job in view somewheres for me. I 
hope so, as it gets too lonesome lying around but I only can use one arm. I have been trying to 
move my other one around, but it won't work, it won't straighten out. I guess Fritzy done a 

pretty good job this time, any way we will say so. Well, give my regards to Dr. S along 

with the nurses I know, and all kinds of luck for you, as ever sincerely a friend, 



"Corp. R R , 

"M. G. 102nd, Reg. U. S. Inf. 



"A. E. F." 
(Signed) Betsey L. Harris, 
Chief Nurse, Base Hospital No. 36. 




Porter and Capt. Hunter Broivn. 
Top Row: — JFrifing Room; General Viezv of Room. Miss Bottom Rozv. 



-Tea Table; the Fireplace; Rest Room. 
Nurses' Red Cross Hut 




Miss M \riox Porter 
Hostess, Y. W. C. A. 



For the Nurses 

May I add a word to go down in appreciation of the Nurses of Base Hospital 36? 

For over a year I lived and worked with them — and I considered it one of the great- 
est privileges of my life that I could call them friends. 

They do not need a testimonial, for all over our land today are men ready and willing 
to add a grateful word for the women who with unfailing cheer and ability "stood by" hour 
after hour and rendered such service that mere words cannot express. 

I tried to keep the fires burning and the tea-kettle boiling. They did the work. We 
were making history and many were the victories won by the nurses, doctors, and men 
of Base Hospital 36. 

Signed MARION E. PORTER, 

Y. W. C. A. Nurses Hut Vittel. 




AN AMPLIFICATION OF MRS. HARRIS' RECORD 

HEN the United States entered the Great War on the side of "The Allies" 
against the Imperial German Government, the nurses of the country began to won- 
der if they would be allowed to do "their bit." Some wrote the Red Cross offer- 
ing their services. Among the first Base Hospital Units to be sent over-seas were 
the two Units from Detroit, B. H. No. 17, leaving in June and B. H. No. 36 
leaving the following October. 

Dr. Burt Russell Shurly was Medical Director of B. H. No. 36. 

Mrs. Betsey Long Harris was chosen as Chief Nurse of B. H. No. 36. She sent out a call 
for graduate registered nurses to volunteer for over-seas duty. Detroit nurses responded well, but 
many had already volunteered and had left with Base Hospital 17 in June. So, as not all re- 
maining were physically fit, State graduates and others were welcomed. It was not long before 
the 100 nurses needed were enrolled under the Red Cross — papers made out, questionaires filled 
in. vaccination made, measurements taken for uniforms, as well as other necessary details gone 
through before taking the Oath of Allegiance at the State Fair Grounds, September 5th. 

Of course, by this time we were all more or less excited and anxious to be oflf. Dressed in 
uniforms, we had an automobile parade along Woodward and Jeflferson avenues. Many parties 
were planned and parting gifts of useful things received. 

A service for the Unit was held in Christ Church by Dr. Maxon, our Chaplain — and we left 
Sept. 6th for New York. The journey was uneventful and from the Grand Central we proceeded 
by train to Gun Hill Road in the^Bronx and to Columbia War Hospital No. 1, Major Shurly ac- 
companying us. We were stationed there for three weeks and had our first taste of Army life. 
We lived in, barracks, or shacks, 25 nurses in a shack; a bed, table and chair for each nurse. A 
few nails hammered into the wooden walls served for clothes, towels, etc — our army lockers and 
dufifle bags went under the bed and we did our best to keep things neat and tidy — it was difficult! 
Two showers were allowed for the use of the nurses and were kept busy. Our first "mess" was 
somewhat disappointing and continued to be so partly because of the long line — and long wait. 
However, we took things philosophically and supplemented outside. 

We were allowed considerable liberty, but were drilled spasmodically by one of the Post Lieu- 
tenants. This was a new experience. "Squads right'' and "hold that pivot" got to be by-words 
among us. The drilling took place either in a field or on the roads near the Post. Our next 
move was to St. Mary's Hospital, Hoboken, and we felt we were getting a little nearer to France. 
We had a long hike to the dock and were then ordered aboard a tug which took us down the Hud- 
son River to Hoboken, where we disembarked and walked through the streets to St. Mary's Hos- 
pital. There we put in another three weeks of anxious watchful waiting. The religious Sisters of 
the Hospital were exceedingly kind and did their best to make us comfortable. It was no joke 
to them having a hundred restless women wished on them. We were two and three in a room, or 
in "dormitories of ten or twelve, where again the disposition of clothing was a problem. We 
draped statues with clothes, etc., as we could not drive nails in the walls. There, one of the 
nurses who had a generous friend, (Mrs. Gilbert Lee) bought several hat-trees which helped con- 
siderably. We had to parade in Hoboken, but were not very enthusiastically received or cheered, 
as most of the population are of German descent. We had good times in New York and took 
part in the Red Cross parade down Fifth Avenue, from 86th Street to Washington Square. 
Each group of nurses wore the diiiferent Red Cross uniforms. None of us will ever forget the 
ovation we received from sidewalks, windows and roofs along the way. Thousands lined the 
Avenue cheering us and wishing us God-speed. Not a few shed tears. Bands played, great men 
and women, in the service and out, reviewed us from a grandstand in front of the Public Library. 





J f", S '•'"•«' 

111 



Gun Hill Road, Bronx, Nczv York. 



Columbia War Hospital No. i. 





H. ^6 Nurses New York Central Station. 



Base 56 Nurses. 









Interior of One of Our Shacks, Gun Hill Road. 



Red Cross Train. 



The heat was terrific, but none of us would have missed that glorious parade. Then Oct. 26th 
came — the long expected order "You must be ready to sail tomorrow morning." Great excitement 
prevailed among us. Everybody hurried to say the last "Good-bye," purchase the last spool of 
thread to squeeze into the already bulging trunk and dufifle bag. Telegrams and letters sent ofiF, 
and a scramble to get back to bed "on time" for once. Everybody up and at breakfast at crack 
of dawn the next morning; Communion Service at 6:00 a. m., held in Episcopal Church and at 
7:30 all assembled in full uniform outside the Hospital, ready for the march to the dock. Mrs. 
Burgess, our Dietician, and to whom we had grown much attached, was not permitted to leave 
with us, to our great regret, on account of War Department order that wives of officers in France 
could not go. Also two of the nurses who through illness had to be left behind and one having 
been married. We were ferried across to the New York side of the Hudson and to the Cunard 
Line dock. Arriving there we were met by all officers and other men of Unit 36. With very little 
delay we were ordered aboard the good ship "Orduna" and sailed about 3:00 p. m., October 27th, 
wondering whether we would ever see the good old U. S. A. again. Before long we were made 
very comfortable in first class cabins, assigned chairs on deck and were soon feeling quite "at home 
at sea." We had only gone a short distance before there was an alarm of "fire in the hold," which 
rather upset and delayed us some time. However, no serious damage was done and we proceeded 
on our way. One nurse developed a severe case of asthma and another an ulcer of the stomach. 
We had some bad weather and considerable seasickness, but the majority of us kept up and en- 
joyed the voyage. Dr. Maxon held a short service for us each morning below deck. We were all 
assigned to life boats and had life-boat drill each day, also life saving suit drill and physical train- 
ing. We were obliged to carry life preservers around with us all the time. A thoughtful Detroit 
friend (Mrs. H. N. Torry) had supplied each nurse with a rubber life-saving suit which we had 
to learn to get into in a few seconds. This was difficult and rather nerve racking as we actually 
never knew whether we had been struck by a mine or submarine, or whether it was just drill. Some 
of the girls fainted, others tore off their finger nails and hurt themselves in other ways in their 
struggles to get into the awkward suits. It was good practice, however, and we might have been 
very thankful for it later, and were most grateful to Mrs. Torry and her sister for their thought- 
fulness for our safety. 

We lay over in Halifax Harbor for two days and during that time several of the nurses 
thought it would be a good time to try out the suits, so with one or two officers they went down the 
side of the ship into the water, where they bobbed around looking like huge toads. Two of the 
nurses floated off, which obliged the Captain to send a boat after them, which pleased him not at 
all! However, the experience they had gave the rest of us the comfortable feeling that we could 
not drown in them. It was here that we were joined by our escorts, seven American troopships 
and a British cruiser. After two days we sailed. (The second night we had a dance and en- 
joyable time on deck.) The voyage was made very pleasant by entertainments of various kinds, 
such as bridge parties, quoits, shuffle board, visiting, letter writing, etc., and on November 8th 
we were met about 400 miles from the English Coast by British torpedo boat destroyers and much 
of the tension of the voyage was relieved. 

November 10th we found ourselves in Liverpool Harbor, where we disembarked. We were 
met at the dock by British officers, either quite old or disabled young men. We were driven in 
handsome motors to the North Western Hotel, where we were given rooms for the night and an 
excellent dinner. We strolled around Liverpool later, although the streets were dark, no lights 
being allowed on account of possible air raids. We were ordered to be ready to leave at 8 a. m. the 
next morning (Sunday) and after a good breakfast boarded our train, right near the hotel, for 
Southampton. We ran through the beautiful English country very quickly, making our first stop 



at Warwick, where luncheon baskets were brought to us containing a substantial meal and tea. 
Signs of war were everywhere, but everything looked as neat and orderly as usual. Arrived at 
Southampton about 4 p. m., we marched right from our train to a transport, the Warilda, ex- 
pecting to sail for France that night, which, however, we did not do, but instead, transferred to 
another Hospital ship, and sailed the next night about 10 p. m. on S. S. Panama. We were all in 
the hold which was transformed into a large dormitory or ward used for the wounded on the re- 
turn trip. It was clean and comfortable and most of us slept the sleep of the just; but a few 
among us were too scared to sleep and one at least said her prayers all night. Some of the nurses 
sat up all night by the light of one candle and sang "Lead, Kindly Light." We anchored at Havre 
at 3 a. m. the following morning (Tuesday) and landed soon after breakfast. British ambu- 
lances met us and distributed us around to several third-rate hotels. However, we were not look- 
ing for comfort in France and felt we were well taken care of. We saw Le Havre pretty thor- 
oughly in the two days spent there. About three o'clock of the second night we were awakened 
by a terrific explosion of aerial bombs, so we realized the Bosche was above us and were more or 
less alarmed. An old Frenchman made the rounds of all the rooms tapping at the doors and tell- 
ing us the Bosch was there and to hurry to the cellar, which, however, we did not do as the bomb- 
ing ceased and we went back to bed. We looked through a crack in the shutters and were much 
entertained by the fireworks. We had breakfast at 5 a. m. and afterward marched to the Gare, 
which in our case was only a few minutes walk from the Terminus Hotel. Some of the scat- 
tered nurses had quite a long distance to walk. It was a cold, cheerless morning and we found the 
very dirty French train even more so. We unfortunately had no rugs or other comforts to help 
keep us warm and none of us will ever forget that journey of forty hours through France. Soon 
Colonel Shurly told us where we were bound, and the knowledge that we were to be located in 
Vittel. a famous French summer resort in the foothills of the Vosges mountains, cheered our 
drooping spirits most wonderfully and we began to see the humor of the situation and to take 
courage. We were given Army rations of bully beef and hard tack, beans, and coflfee soaked 
in cognac, which was too stiff for us. We were four or six in a coach. During the afteraoon 
we had a long stopover and everybody got off the train and went to the station cafe to get some- 
thing to eat. We had a fairly good meal and some Vin rouge to warm us up. Some of us 
purchased a bottle of it and carried it back to the train. The journey seemed intermin- 
able and we became stiff and cross, getting what sleep we could curled up on the seats. No 
lights were allowed, so the night seemed never-ending. The next day the weather was brighter 
and we took heart once more. The country was more interesting also. We passed quaint villages 
and old chateaux, making a long detour to avoid the battle areas. About eleven o'clock of our 
second night we were told we would be in Vittel in a few minutes and to be ready to get off. 
Needless to record we were ready — one nurse not wishing to leave her good Vin rouge behind 
anchored it around her waist; in her hurry to get off the train she missed the step and fell! The 
bottle, loosed from its moorings, clattered on the platform and was smashed to pieces. This is re- 
corded as the first tragedy in Vittel, Nov. 17th, 1917! 

An officer had been detailed to billet us, and he divided us into groups and marched us 
through the dark streets to the villas which were to be our homes for the entire time of our stay 
at Vittel. One group found itself in the Villa Jean Rose — another in Villa Molliere and another 
in the Hotel des Sports. Hot broth, chocolate and cabbage soup were served to us, and after- 
ward we were shown to our rooms and got to bed as quickly as possible, feeling most grateful 
for our safety and well being. The rooms were cold and very damp, being built for summer 
visitors. They were not equipped with stoves, nor iire-places, and very few buildings in France 
have furnaces, so we needed all our warm clothes and more. There were no bath tubs, all vi.sit- 




The Galleries, Vittcl. 



Another View. 



ors being expected to take their baths at the Hydrotherapy estabhshment and to pay for them, and 
as this estabhshment had been closed, we were obHged to depend up)on basins and small pitchers of 
"eau chaude," which our landladies were able to spare. Two of the nurses had purchased a col- 
lapsible rubber bath tub in New York ; it was rather hard to manage, but proved popular. It had 
a way of syphoning itself ofiE onto the floor after one got folded into it, which was most annoy- 
ing. We squandered our substance on small kerosene stoves, paying fabulous prices for kerosene 
as it was scarce. We could then cook a little. The first Sunday, the day after our arrival, Dr. 
Maxon had been busy and had secured the little English church where he held a service of 
thanksgiving for our safe conduct. It was a beautiful morning and we were delighted to find 
ourselves located amid such lovely surroundings. The foothills of the Vosges mountains en- 
.circled us, pine woods and many varieties of trees grew thickly around their base and in the val- 
ley, some with huge bunches of mistletoe hanging from their branches. Our villas were located 
on the Avenue des Tilleuls, the leaves of the Tilleuls trees being used to make Tilleuls tea — a 
beverage much enjoyed by the French. In the days that followed we scrubbed and arranged our 
rooms. Generally two nurses were together and shared the furniture provided ; while some of 
us bought a little eSctra, which was a great help. We hung or pinned up photographs of friends at 
home and began to feel at home amid our new surroundings. As our equipment had not arrived 
we had no work to do, so had a wonderful opportunity to explore the village and the surround- 
ing country, taking long "hikes" over the hills to distant villages and through the woods, where 
we would sometimes come suddenly upon a little shrine — ages old. We were particularly im- 
pressed by the lack of sanitation in the villages around. They seemed never to have emerged from 
their primitive condition of hundreds of years before, but were very picturesque, and the little 
churches always interesting as well as the people themselves. We found them always most 
courteous and kind to the strangers within their gates. The women did their weekly washing in 
the village trough in cold water, rubbing the clothes on stones. Christmas was drawing near and 
thoughts of home and friends were much in our minds. We were not allowed to send word where 
we were located and all our letters were censored, so we were more or less restricted in express- 
ing our feelings and careful not by any chance to give information to the enemy. As Christmas 
came on we felt as though we would like to do something for the children of the village and in- 
vited them all to a huge Christmas tree in a large room of the Ceres, where the band played and 
the children were given little presents of nuts, fruits and candy. 

Five of the huge hotels were leased from the French for our use and as our equipment be- 
gan to arrive we got busy transforming them into Army hospitals. This was not easy, but we felt 
very fortunate in having such handsome buildings. Many of the rooms had huge plate-glass mir- 
rors and handsome chandeliers, as well as mural decorations. They all had elevators, but for 



lack of power we could not use them, and our patients who could not walk were carried on stretch- 
ers upstairs and down. Electric wiring was there, but we could not use it on account of the short- 
age of coal, so we carried kerosene lanterns, candles and flashlights for our night work. All win- 
dows were ordered heavily draped for fear of German aviators seeing us and giving information 
of our location and perhaps bombing us. 

Things rapidly began to take shape — stoves were installed in corridors, wood and coal pro- 
cured for fireplaces, beds put up and made by the nurses. The stove pipes were in most cases in- 
serted through the windows in order to avoid marring the walls. They were poor stoves, so was 
the coal. The Boche was in command of all the best French coal fields and we had little but 
slack, which smoked most of the time and filled the halls and rooms with smoke. 

Mrs. Harris detailed the nurses to duty according to their previous experience whenever pos- 
sible. Some were given charge of hospitals, others of special departments, some general ward- 
and-bedside nursing. This, however, was changed from time to time, so that all might have a 
varied experience; also day and night duty. There was much planning to be done and as the 
plans covered a thousand-bed hospital for day and night duty, it took some calculating to make 
ninety-eight nurses go around. We worked with a will, and were able to welcome four hundred 
soldiers with measles, trench feet and mumps, Dec. 8th, at the end of three weeks. Many of these 
boys had colds, sore throats, otitis media and eye troubles, so the eye, ear, nose and throat de- 
partment was opened at once and in a very short time held a clinic every afternoon, at which 
sometimes a hundred would be treated. The French civilians soon learned to come to us and many 
were the struggling French youngsters Col. Shurly and Major Haughey operated on for removal 
of tonsils and adenoids and treated for otitis media and chronic infection of nose and throat. 
Occasionally we would operate in some French home for cataract removal or other minor eye 
troubles. In one case at the far end of the village the doctor and nurse went frequently to 
arrest a very persistent nasal hemorrhage in an old lady who felt that we saved her life. We 
found the French civilians most grateful and as there was no pecuniary reward accepted for our 
services they would insist upon bringing us fruit, chickens, eggs, wine, flowers, and in one in- 
stance, a large bag of snails ! 

Due to the change of climate and unusual living conditions several of the nurses became quite 
ill with colds, sore throats, bronchitis, and one of our number showed symptoms of tuberculosis 
and was ordered home. These ill nurses were brought over to the Central Hospital, which was the 
first opened, and put to bed with other nurses in charge. Their comforts were few, but nobody 
complained and they were soon well and up again. There was not much activity along the Front 
at this time, so we had no wounded until early in the Spring. Palace or Hospital C, was second 
in readiness and admitted French wounded. The Ceres or Hospital B was third in readiness. 
This was a much larger, more modern and a handsomer hotel than the Central, beautifully situ- 
ated, overlooking sunken gardens, park and hills beyond. There were a few bath tubs and some 
steam heat in this hospital. One bathroom was assigned for the use of the nurses temporarily 
and was much appreciated. Miss Daily, who had been so ill on board ship was, about this time, 
taken to Chaumont, Gen. Pershing's headquarters, 50 miles away where the Roosevelt Unit from 
New York was located. There she had better care than it was possible for us to give her at that 
time as our X-ray and other equipment were in a chaotic condition. Several of our nurses were 
there on duty. In December a call was sent to our Base from a place called Vaucouleurs, asking 
for extra nursing help. As we were not busy our C. O. ordered several nurses to proceed there 
for duty, where they were on duty several weeks and reported an interesting experience when 
they returned. (See Miss Gano's article.) 



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As the Spring advanced we began to be conscious of low rumbling sounds which at first we 
thought little of, but as they became more and more frequent and louder we questioned our officers 
and were informed they were the explosions of the cannon of the Allies and that we were only 30 
miles from the front and might have to evacuate at a few hours notice — pleasant thought — 
French troops passed back and forth through the village either going to the front or returning to 
rest billets. Sometimes the poor Poilus were sound asleep upon their lean, jaded horses. Huge 
camions lumbered back and forth so we realized there was great activity along the lines. We 
soon received our first convoy of wounded American soldiers. How they were cut, slashed and 
shot to pieces ; large areas of flesh torn apart by the bursting shells and shrapnel, I cannot de- 
scribe. Ambulance load after load drove up to the hospitals from the Red Cross convoy train which 
always warned us of its approach by the most piercing shriek I have ever heard. I for one can 
never forget that shrieking whistle and the roll of the ambulances back and forth from the train 
to the hospitals bearing their loads of mutilated men. It all seemed too barbarous. Stretcher 
after stretcher was unloaded and laid on the floors of the receiving rooms, where each identifica- 
tion disk was read and the soldier registered. Then the orderlies carried them to wards and fresh 
beds, where the nurses were ready with hot water, soap and towels to remove at least some of the 
outer layer of trench mud and blood. Many of them were alive with cooties and other vermin which 
the nurses unfortunately carried home. All clothes were sent to the Field Sterilizer for disin- 
fection and as it was impossible to make a list of so many individual possessions, much was lost, 
which resulted in untold grief to the patients — little treasures brought or sent from home disap- 
peared, never to be seen again — but this was "war," and it was impossible to list every man's be- 
longings. After the men were bathed the doctors came with dressing wagons to change dress- 
ings that in some cases had not been touched for three days. Gauze had grown to the flesh, and 
even with the utmost care the removal of this, and the packing, caused untold agony to the soldier. 
After the dressing was accomplished the first request was "Give me a cigarette, please, nurse." 
Doctors and nurses worked far into and sometimes all night bathing the patients and dressing 
wounds in the wards, while four or five tables in each operating room would be going for the 
removal of shrapnel, amputations and more complicated wounds and fractures. Not a complaint 
was heard, but the moans were heartrending. One poor boy, who in civil life was a fireman in 
Rochester, New York, told me he would be glad to go back at the Boche tomorrow. (He had 
lost a hand and a leg. also his face was terribly mutilated.) He said, "I've just married an 
awful nice girl and I am so afraid she will not want me now." After a few busy weeks we 
would evacuate all able to travel and have a spell of comparative quiet and relaxation. During 
these short periods we would "play" as much as possible. Some of the nurses rode horseback, 
others cycled through the lovely country, others preferred golf or tennis. Those not athletic 
would stroll around the beautiful park with intimate friends or knit for the "Boys." This contin- 
ued all summer. 



A civilian member of our Unit whom I have not as yet mentioned was Miss Hammond, com- 
monly called "Peggy." She was a very finely educated and cultured young woman who was at- 
tached to our Unit as interpreter. She also had a charming personality which won our hearts 
and she was "one of us" from start to finish. Miss Hammond was able to perform all kinds of 
"odd jobs." She was an excellent interpreter; played her 'cello in church and hospitals, helped 
other nurses when they were rushed, and finally was put in command of all the French scrub- 
women, whom she knew just how to handle. She did not return with the Unit, but took up some 
other war work after we left. Miss Hammond and Mr. Leonard Shepard were married soon after 
her return to the U. S. A. The}' are living in Milwaukee and have one child. 

Miss Marion Porter, of the Y. W. C. A., was assigned to us (B. H.'s 36 and 33), and we 
were indeed fortunate in having as Hostess of our Red Cross Hut such a dignified gentlewoman. 
She soon endeared herself to us all by her impartial and kindly interest in us, and presided and 
aided in all our social activities, providing most delicious refreshments every afternoon at the 
Hut, which was built for us and furnished at great expense by Capt. Hunter Brown of the Amer- 
ican Red Cross Society. Miss Porter was in charge of the Hostess Houses in the Canal Zone, 
Panama, in 1921-22. When she first came the only available place for any kind of social gather- 
ings was the old bar-room at The Sports, across f rom our mess room. This she soon converted 
into a most attractive rest room. She rented a piano, bought furniture and a tea set. Soon she 
announced that tea and cofifee would be served every afternoon and that there would be open house 
for officers as well as nurses. This meant a great deal to us all, as we had no sitting rooms in our 
villas where we could gather together. Here we gave concerts and other entertainments which were 
great fun. On Sunday afternoons we sang hymns after tea. Father Paul Bonnet, a French 
priest in the military service, was attached to the Vittel Center as interpreter. He took great in- 
terest in us all and often played the piano for us to sing. He also took over many of the services 
in the Chapel, where those nurses of the Catholic faith worshipped. Later when our Hut was 
completed. Miss Porter moved over there and reigned supreme. She always visited nurses who 
were ill, taking them little delicacies which the Army could not provide. Miss Porter arranged 
dances, card parties and other entertainments for all officers and nurses of Base 36. These par- 
ties and the good cheer dispensed so graciously by Miss Porter provided an eminently necessary 
relaxation and diversion for our arduous life at Vittel and promoted cordial relations between the 
two Units. 

A very stringent rule in the Army is that Army nurses may have no social intercourse with 
the privates. As one at least, of the nurses had a brother and others friends among the privates 
of our Unit, this was considered rather arbitrary and "Thou shalt not mingle" was dubbed the 
eleventh commandment! 

Some of the nurses took a great deal of interest in the little Episcopal church. Several sang 
in the choir Sunday mornings, evening service being held either in one of the Hospitals or in the 
Boys' Red Cross Hut, where hymns were chosen and sung with great energy. 

The nurses took charge of the decorating of the little church for Christmas and Easter, and 
other special days, keeping fresh flowers upon the altar. The flowers were afterward taken to 
sick members of the Unit or sick soldiers. These flowers were gathered in the fields and woods 
near the villages, except during the winter months, when they were purchased. The altar linen 
was purchased by one of the nurses, the lace being made by women of Vittel. Bnmo Jones 
played the organ and Miss Hammond her 'cello, so our music was good. 

The handsome Vittel Casino had been taken over for the use of the two Units and in the 
theatre entertainments of various kinds were given three or four times a week. We had moving 
pictures, vaudeville, concerts, lectures and minstrel shows. One elderly gentleman of the Red 
Cross, (Judge Pollard, of Richmond, Virginia) delighted the nurses with the following at the 
close of his lecture: 



TOAST TO THE TRAINED NURSE 

"Here's to the trained nurse — 
She has made sickness a luxury 
Getting well a regret. 
She has turned our medicine into nectar 
Our beds of sickness into flowery beds of ease. 
She has made our doctors endurable, 
She has transformed our Hospitals into havens of rest. 
Yes, here's to the trained nurse, 

When she leaves us she leaves us with empty pockets, 
But with hearts full of sweet and tender memories, 
Of which we dare not speak in the presence of our wives." 

Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of President Wilson, favored us with a concert, singing 
popular songs, among them "A Perfect Day." That song loosed the flood-gates of tears and 
many of the poor home-sick convalescent soldiers sobbed audibly. 

Our struggles with the French language were ludicrous and many were the embarrassing 
mistakes made. However, the French were kind and did not make fun of us. One nurse car- 
ing for a poor sick Poilu tried to tell him in her best French "that he would soon be better." After 
repeating this several days she noticed a peculiar expression come over his face and decided she 
must have said something wrong. When she reached her room and consuUed her dictionary she 
found to her dismay that she had told him he would soon be dead. Another nurse shopping for 
a pincushion was shown the family pig (cochon) I 

As time went en that homesick feeling was very apparent among us and some of the nurses 
consoled themselves by adopting dogs and canary birds. (Also we adopted a French orphan 
whom we never saw, but his name was to be Frank A. Day in memory of a "touching" incident 
in our military life.) ■ Ki Ki, a terrier, became the pet and also the despair of the Hotel des Sports. 
"Centime" was another well known dog, but his popularity was short lived. 

We loved to shop and the little stores along the Rue de la Gare oiiered many attractions in 
the way of hand-made lace. Most of it is made by the women of Vittel. Lorraine china, 
marked with the double cross of Lorraine and the thistle of Alsace, was very much desired, also 
hand-made beaded bags and motifs. Many of these were purchased and sent home as souvenirs. 
A woman refugee from Naney was kept busy by the nurses and officers of Base 36 ; she supported 
herself and three children from the sale of her hand-made beaded bags. This woman's husband 
was a prisoner of war in Germany for four years. We were able to help her, through the gener- 
osity of Mrs. Gilbert Lee, of Detroit, to buy shoes for her children. She sent food every week 
to her husband in prison, who after the Armistice, was released. We will never forget her face 
when she told us her husband was coming home. There were so many little famihes left without 
a father in those sad times; and this same Detroit friend kept a family of eight children and 
a returned sick Poilu father in milk and eggs for several months. 

As the summer advanced whispers of furloughs were heard and finally a group of nurses 
started for Nice and Cannes. Traveling was much disorganized and uncomfortable during the -war, 
but we got used to it, and the prospect of freedom and two weeks of sight-seeing was very exhil- 
arating, and nobody cared about the discomforts of the trip South. 



From time to time groups of nurses were sent away to observe conditions and methods of 
treatment in other centers, gaining much of value to be used in our own hospitals. Groups went 
to Ris Oranges, Paris, the American Ambulance at Neuilly, and Compiegne. 

During January six of the nurses had mumps, one had measles and eight others were in 
bed with various complaints, and we all longed for the relief of Spring. 

January 7th Major Barrett gave us a talk about his experiences during his visit to the British 
trenches. He reported a wonderful morale and determination to win the war among the troops. 

January 10th our Mess was established, with one of the nurses as dietitian. A few days 
later we all felt sure that the much-talked-of horse meat was served to us; we had never tasted 
the like of it! 

When we arrived in Vittel we were obliged to take our meals with our French hostesses in 
the villas where we lived. Black bread, confiture, cafe au lait or chocolate was provided for break- 
fast. Usually a roast of veal or mutton, with haricot or some other vegetable, black bread and 
confiture or a French "tarte" for dinner. Supper much the same — rather small portions of 
everything. 

February — General Pershing visited us quite unexpectedly about this time, and everybody felt 
more or less ill at ease. However, he only remarked our unmilitary appearance and deportment, 
which did not worry us much, as he could hardly expect us to be perfect soldiers in so short a 
time. 

January 18th Private Jack Yuill of B. H. 36 died of pneumonia and all nurses who were 
able attended his funeral. He was laid to rest in the American Section of the Vittel Cemetery, 
with full military honors. 

At the end of March great excitement was caused one day by the falling to earth of a German 
balloon. There was no basket, so we concluded it must have drifted away from its moorings by 
the German lines. There was not much left of it after the souvenir hunters got through with it. 

Many of the nurses suffered hives during the Spring, and we thought the unaccustomed diet 
was to blame for it. Parcels of all kinds of things began to arrive from home — clothes, shoes, and 
good things to eat. Many of these were a great surprise, and delighted us. One nurse received 
an electric grill, with full cooking outfit, which came through without a mar. This was perverted 
from its original delectable purpose for sterilizing instruments in the eye, ear, nose and throat 
department. Soon an order came through restricting all packages, and we, of course, cheerfully 
sacrificed them. 

In April eight nurses were detached and sent on special temporary duty to Baccarat, a Field 
Hospital, so were within a few miles of the lines, where they had thrilling experiences. 

Vittel Park and surrounding country and woods were all very beautiful during the Spring 
and summer. Wild flowers in great variety and profusion grew in the fields and woods ; lihes of 
the valley in huge patches in the woods, and crocuses in the fields, as well as most lustrous cow- 
slips or "cuckoos," as the French call them. 

Decoration Day was observed in fitting manner by all members of the two Units who could 
be spared. A parade to the cemetery with a small company of French infantry. Here we dedi- 
cated a stone to the memory of Jack Yuill, and decorated the graves of fifteen other American 
boys laid to rest. Next day we received our first gassed soldiers — 200 of them, in bad shape. Our 
first experience of the strangulation and suffering was painful to witness. 



In June we admitted 350 English Tommies. Some of the nurses said they found they had 
to learn EngHsh all over again. The Tommies thought our hospitals wonderful, and were very 
appreciative ; said they had not slept in beds for over a year, nor had such good food since the 
war began. They brought us some strange colonies from the front! 

During the Summer a commissary department was opened, and we were allowed to purchase 
candy once a week, tea, coffee, jam and other delicacies. 

The Guignal appeared in the Park. This is the French "Punch and Judy" show, and drew 
large crowds of young and old people. The music was always the very popular air, "Madelon." 

From June on, when the dreadful slaughter of our Allies' victorious drive began, our con- 
voys of wounded soldiers poured in and all members of the Unit worked early and late in Operat- 
ing Rooms, Wards, X-Ray department, Treatment Rooms, Pharmacies and Offices. In fact, 
everywhere there was great activity. From operating table to sick bed, from sick bed to wheel 
chair and crutch. Convalescent American, English, French and Algerian soldiers could be seen 
sitting around in the Park, dressed in pajamas covered by Turkish toweling, bathrobes and sandals. 
In wheelchairs pushed by a comrade, others on crutches, arms in slings, bandaged heads, and 
other disabilities. One of the saddest sights to me was the group of convalescents outside Hos- 
pital A in the gray light of early dawn, with their packs on their backs, vari-colored Red Cross 
bags, containing precious trifles slung over their arms, ready to march to the trains which were to 
carry them back to the front and all the horrors of war. If the women who made and filled 
those Red Cross bags could have heard "the boys" beg for them, they would have felt fully repaid 
for time and effort expended. 

A diversion for our convalescents, as well as ourselves, which we very much enjoyed was 
baseball in Shurly Field, where our' own team played against B. H. 23 and other teams who 
challenged us. The whole Base turned out, as well as the French population. Many were the 
wagers lost and won and we all did our share of rooting. 

July 4th was celebrated in true American style; the hospitals and the village were decorated 
with flags and streamers. At 9 a. m. the personnel of the two Units assembled on the parade 
ground and marched through the village, headed by the Post band. A company of French 
troops and another of British Tommies marched with our own convalescent soldiers. Flags were 
carried and it was indeed a great occasion. Following the parade there were addresses given in 
the Park from the grand stand by the Mayor of Vittel, French officers and our own officers. In 
the afternoon there was a baseball game between 36 and 23, an exciting game. Base 23 
winning, 2 to 1. 

The Red Cross gave a lawn fete at the Officers' Club from 5 to 7 p. m., to which we were 
all invited. In the evening there was a httle musical play at the Casino, put on by some of the 
members of Base 15, from Chaumont. The weather was delightful during the Summer, not too 
hot, long beautiful twilights, and the exquisite song of the nightingales up until 10 o'clock, and 
later, the atmosphere was remarkably clear and seemed to bring the hills close to us. 

July 14th was the French national Independence Day, which we helped to celebrate. There 
were addresses in the public square, and the presentation of decorations by a French General to 
those parents who had lost sons in the war. Huge wreaths were made and carried to the 
cemetery, many of them made of colored beads. 

About July 20th we received approximately 1,000 patients in Vittel, from the Soissons- 
Chateau Thierry front. There was another rush of strenuous, heart-breaking work, as they were 
all more or less seriously wounded. Officers, men and nurses rose to these emergencies with the 
supreme strength and efficiency which alone could cope with the situation, never resting until they 
had accompHshed all they could to make our poor boys as comfortable as was humanly possible. 



July 28 another ambulance train came, and all our wards were packed, with beds and cots over- 
flowing into the corridors. Day nurses were called at 2 :30 a. m. to help the night nurses give baths 
and make the sick and wounded comfortable ; they were fully compensated when they saw the clean, 
contented faces looking out between fresh white sheets on rows and rows of cots. 

August 7th we read in the Paris edition of the New York Herald the account of the torpedo- 
ing in the EngHsh Channel of the Red Cross Hospital Ship Warilda. We had spent a night and 
day on this boat in Southampton. Troops of French and British Airplanes were constantly flying 
over Vittel, and one day a German 'plane was seen with British 'planes in pursuit. About this time 
our Base became an evacuation clearing station, and we were doing as many as 300 operations 
a day. 

September 5th; the first anniversary of our taking the oath of allegiance. 

September 6th ; just a year since we left Detroit, and to celebrate we had a fancy dress party 
at the Sports, which was great fun. There was dancing, cards and fortune-telling. 

September 7th the Colonels and Majors gave a most delightful picnic up in the hills, to 
which several of the nurses were invited. Colonel Shurly drove a donkey cart loaded with pro- 
visions. All followed him through the woods to a clearing, from where there was a wonderful 
view, and here we built a fire and cooked a delicious supper of steak and potatoes and topped with 
Detroit candy. These parties, given in the intervals of hard, nerve-racking work, were much 
needed and enjoyed by the nursing personnel. We also had a "barbecue" during the summer, 
and in the evening, so that nearly all the members of the Units were able to be there at least part 
of the time. We roasted a sheep whole, and after supper indulged in outdoor sports. These 
"bright spots" helped very much to keep up our morale. 

Many picnics were given during the summer, sometimes to distant points, but more often 
nearer home, in the woods, after the day's work was done and we had time to rest there. 

As the Autumn advanced we received more medical than surgical cases. Influenza and pneu- 
monia became very prevalent among the American troops. Some of the soldiers reached us only 
in time to die. We admitted them with high temperatures and in a very weakened condition, due 
to inevitable exposure and lack of care. 

At one time we had a large number of negroes. Their "miseries" were amusing, as well 
as very pathetic. They usually made good recoveries, and, much to our surprise, stood the rigors 
of the French climate, as well as the exposure, better than the white troops. 

The nurses were ordered to wear surgical gowns and masks when on duty with these medical 
cases, as a protection to themselves. Some of our number contracted influenza, however, and 
Mrs. Widdicomb was desperately ill for a long time ; !Miss Duncan, and several others, with 
rheumatism. Miss Stahl with heart trouble. 

About this time we were told that we might purchase and wear the blue "overseas" cap, with 
the insignia, Lorraine cross, and A. S. (advance section). Anything for a change! We 
missed our store clothes and "frills," so we bought our caps as quickly as possible and were kept 
busy embroidering our insignia to sew on them, with chevrons for our coat sleeves. Each nurse 
embroidered the insignia for some favored man (or men) of the Unit as well. We all felt 
dressed up when they were finally finished and in place. (After the first six months a gold service 
stripe was in order.) This made another diversion, and we began to feel conscious of our dec- 
orations and a little "puflfed up" in the presence of civilians. 

An amusing incident is told of Miss Blanche Myers, on furlough in Paris. She squandered 
her substance on a ticket for the Opera. She could not understand why the women ushers kept 
coming up to her whispering (and gesticulating) something in French. This caused her much em- 
barrassment and annoyance until she finally was helped out by another American who under- 
stood French — "that they were telling her she must remove her hat," which she had for- 
gotten to do. 



Miss Witbam (also on furlough) was en route to Versailles. In her excitement and hurry 
to get on the train, she handed the guard at the gate, not her ticket for Versailles, but the stub of 
her theatre ticket of the night before. The prompt appearance of an American M. P. alone saved 
her from the embarrassment of arrest for trying to defraud the French Railroad Company ! 

November llth of glorious memory! The Armistice was signed and the frightful slaughter 
of the manhood of Europe and America was over. But oh, how many broken bodies and minds to 
heal! 

Base 36 celebrated as loudly and joyously as possible. Everybody in the village paraded, 
laughed and wept, sang, danced and drank. We were indeed merry for "la guerre finie" was on 
everybody's tongue and our hearts were rejoicing. Nurses who happened to be in Paris on fur- 
lough reported wild scenes of joy and abandon. A famous prima donna sang the "Marseillaise" 
from the balcony of the Opera House. The populace were dancing, shouting, embracing each 
other and anybody in the street. The crowds were so great it was almost impossible to get 
through or home in any way. It was an experience never to be forgotten, for the Hun was beaten 
at last and driven from France. 

We had but few patients after December 1st. I was on night duty and shall always remember 
our last convoy of returned prisoners of war from Germany. They were almost all able to walk, 
and came in a long file from the Gare to the Ceres about midnight. Such a motley crew! Some 
had no hats, others no coats ; some wore colored smocks, others had no shoes. They were ema- 
ciated and worn — some of them were weak and ill — but the expression of every man's face was 
one of happiness and relief, for he was with his own once more. Everybody had a German 
souvenir, which nothing would have induced him to leave behind. They were hungry and cold, 
but we soon made them comfortable and happy with hot coffee and clean beds. 

From this time on we were not so rushed, and Christmas was a very happy time for us all. 
The nurses and Miss Hammond gave a large party for the French mothers and children. They 
came from far and near, an endless stream, it seemed. We fortunately had enough candy, etc., to 
go round, and a number of gifts. We entertained them in the large room at the Palace. 

We had some Christmas entertainments, dancing and bridge parties at the Hut. The nurses 
had more time for recreation of all kinds, as there was so much less work to be done and the hours 
were not so long. 

We bought and distributed baskets of food for the very poor of the village on Christmas Eve 
(in a drenching rain). These baskets were most gratefully received. The poor French had been 
hungry for .many months. 

Soon came the news "the hospitals are to be closed." One after the other was cleared of 
American beds, etc., until only the Ceres remained open. There were several nurses ill there, as 
well as a few remaining patients. The well nurses took turns in nursing the ill ones, and this con- 
tinued until the Unit was ordered home, in February. 

In conclusion, I will add that when it is remembered, aside from civilians, between 15,000 and 
20,000 cases from among the Allied forces came under the nurses' care, some idea may be attained 
of the arduous work carried through by our Nursing Corps. I have laid more stress upon the 
pleasant side of the nurses' work at Vittel, because of the natural repugnance of human nature 
to dwell upon the horrible side of the Great War with which we came in contact. There were 
hours of feverish, agonizing work, when the nerves of the body and the faculties of the soul 
seemed one raw, quivering surface, across which the irrepressible screams of our poor boys drew 
red-hot knives. Inured as we all were to the pain and tragedy upon which the nurse's life 
is founded, these terrible hours of Vittel called forth powers of endurance and steadfastness 
which seemed incredible to human nature, until divinely merged in the sustaining strength which 
never fails nor falters. 



In January about twenty nurses volunteered for further service in the Army, and were ordered 
to proceed by ambulance and train to Treve and Coblentz with the Army of Occupation, where 
they served several months in various hospitals. 

Evelyn Cooper, 
A. N. C. A. E. F. 
(With extracts from the diary of Miss Emma Josephine McCaw.) 

Experiences at Chavimont In Detached Service 

About the first of December, Miss Maude Arkell, Miss Julia Stahl, Miss Caldwell, 
Miss Nellie Cavern, Miss Gorman and Miss Hedley were ordered to proceed to Chaumont 
(General Pershing's Headquarters) to report for duty at B. H. 15, where extra help was 
needed. They left Vittel at 5 o'clock in the morning. Traveling during war time was 
most difficult, particularly for those of us who could not speak or understand the French 
language. Because of that handicap they passed Chaumont where they should have got- 
ten off the train and rode several miles further on, and after midnight, too. When they 
found out their mistake they left the train at the next stop and sat on their suitcases in 
the very dreary station waiting for the train to take them back to Chaumont. After 
many tears and much discomfort they finally arrived at Chaumont, where an American 
M. P. telephoned up to Base 15 for an ambulance to take them there. Upon arrival at the 
Hospital they were shown into cold stone barracks at 2 o'clock in the morning. Base 15 
nurses were very hospitable and crawled out of bed to get them food and something hot 
to drink. No baggage had come up with them, so that was another handicap. However, 
they went to bed and the next morning went on ten hour duty in their outdoor uniforms. 
They were all assigned to general ward duty. Had an excellent "mess" and when at 
leisure enjoyed the quaint old town and beautiful surrounding country. One of the "sights" 
of Chaumont was a camel that had been "drafted" from a circus for duty in the Army. 
Poor thing! His dignity was much offended by his position hitched up with a string of 
mules. 

Chaumont had a very exciting air raid while they were there and everybody in town 
went to the Churches to pray and remained there all night. 

All nurses had drilling in the use of gas masks, being obliged to wear them during 
long tramps. 

Maude Arkell, A. N. C. 

Experiences at Chateau Chalaine Near Vaucouleurs 

November 30th twelve nurses were ordered to proceed to Chelaine for duty. We were 
called at 5 a. m., Dec. 1st, had our breakfast of black bread and cafe-au-lait, and left in 
a motor truck at 6 o'clock. Five of our officers accompanied us, and as each had a suit 
case and blanket roll we did not have much room to move around. We drove through 
beautiful country and passed several large American camps. Arrived at Neufchateau, 
where we were to take a train which was due at 9 :15 a. m. We sat around the dirty 
little station until 10 o'clock, when we found to our disgust that our train had gone and 
that we would have to wait until 5 p. m. We started out to explore the town. We found 
nothing interesting. It was very dirty and poverty stricken. We went to a hotel for din- 
ner and had a fairly good meal, considering we were in France. There were many soldiers 
in the village and they told us they were there to bury a comrade who had died of pneu- 
monia. About 3 p. m. I heard music and found that the funeral procession was passing. 
First came the 2nd Regiment band from Springfield, Mass., U. S. A., then the Ambulance 
with casket draped in American flag; then two soldiers carrying flowers, two more bear- 
ing French funeral wreaths made of beads, after them the rest of the company. The music 
was so solemn and so sad several of the boys in the band were playing, with tears rolling 



down their cheeks. We followed to the cemetery. The boys carried the plain wooden 
casket on their shoulders to the grave. There was a short service by the Chaplain, the 
men fired three salutes and, after a pause, from the other side of the cemetery came the 
sound of "Taps," and it was all over. By this time I was crying my eyes out and made 
up my mind to write his people in Springfield, Mass. At 4:36 we found our train at the 
station. We were seven or eight in a compartment and played rhum all the way to Vau- 
couleurs, where we arrived at 6 :45 p. m. We were met by an ambulance and driven a short 
distance, to some large iron gates which were swung open at our approach. We 
drove up in front of an old chateau and entered an immense hall with tiled floor and beau- 
tiful hand carved stairway. The Major in charge came forward and welcomed us very 
cordially. We had expected to find a hospital with nurses already installed. Instead, the 
Major announced that the place had been taken over by the Americans just four days ago 
and that they already had 150 patients ; 50 had mumps and measles and there was no wo- 
man in the place. We were shown upstairs to our rooms, two very large ones with six 
beds in each and a beautiful wood fire in the grate. We had a fine supper, roast beef, 
mashed potatoes, peas, white bread and butter, the best meal we had had in France and 
the first white bread since the S. S. Orduna. Private soldiers waited upon us and said we were 
the first American women they had talked to in two months. There was no bathroom in 
the Chateau, so we had to forego that luxury there, too. Breakfast at 7 :30 a. m., and after- 
wards such a day's work. Miss Abramson, who was in charge, talked with the Major and 
we were assigned to duty. Misses Hine, Pailca and Moran_,were given the acute cases 
of pneumonia and meningitis. Misses McDonald and Duncan the mumps. Miss Thompson 
and Miss Bach were given night' duty, Mrs. Lohr was to special a very sick man who had 
meninp-itis. Miss Dwyer and I were sent to the surgical ward, and Miss Abramson and 
Miss Medhurst took charge of the Operating Room. Miss Dwyer and I were led through 
the yard past the barn to the long barracks which was our ward. Such a sight as met 
our eyes ! Everybody was in the worst mess I ever saw. About forty men were lying in 
those awful French cots in dirty blankets, and so much dirt I never saw. We worked like 
troopers all day, but did not seem to accomplish a thing; got most of them between sheets, 
but a bath was out of the question, as it was too cold and we had so little to work with. 
We had several fractures and a lot of treatments. The location there was very beautiful. 
We were just behind the River Meuse, where a battle was fought between the British, 
French and Germans. The river was clogged with the bodies. Joan of Arc was born 
there, and is said to have led her troops past this chateau. 

Dec. 5th another busy day. Five new fracture cases and a number of Alabama boys 
with otitis media; such youngsters, many of them only eighteen, and all so appreciative. 
We did dressings and irrigated ears all day. The boys were so grateful for a little warm 
water to wash in. 

They had been washing in watering troughs and sleeping on the floors of lofts, and all 
of them were so dirty and ashamed of it. It was so cold, water froze in our ward the 
night before, and our feet nearly froze in the morning before the sun came up. We were 
so busy we could not wash our patients every day, but had to depend on one or two of the 
patients who were up, to give water, etc. 

Dec. 6th, Thursday, we were sent for to the C. K., where one of the officers told us 
that the Germans were making a big drive towards this region and we were to move as 
soon as possible. 300 patients to move and just as we were making them comfortable. We 
could hear the guns very plainly and they say we are only six or seven miles away from 
them. There was an air raid about four miles from here last night. Our lights all went 



out at the time, but we did not know what it meant. We seem to be in great danger and 
some of the girls are afraid to go to bed, as we were told we might have to move during 
the night. We were very careful not to let any of the patients know what was troubling 
us. However, some of them went out and saw the men packing up, but thought we were 
going to a Base Hospital. 

Sunday, Dec. 9th. Still at Chelaine and nothing new except that they are sending 
the patients away ; but more come in as fast as they move out. They say we must be 
out of here by the 12th. Have several men who should be operated upon at once, but have 
nothing here to do it with. I took a walk over to Vaucouleurs yesterday and saw the ruins 
of the chapel where Jeanne D'Arc received her troops. The guns seemed very near all day 
and the ground seemed to shake. 

Friday, December 14th. Very little has developed in the past few days. Have evac- 
uated the patients as fast as they were able to go. Base 18 is full, so we are sending all 
now to Base 36 at Vittel. We have very little to do now, so are only on duty half days. 
Vaucouleurs is very interesting; there is a factory for making monuments and statuary 
there. We could have a very good time here if only there were no Army rules. 

Dec. 19th. Back in Vittel and the Des Sports once more. We drove back in an am- 
bulance and passed miles of French Artillery on the way. Mary Gano, A. N. C. 

Baccarat 

On May 29th, 1918, two night nurses of Base Hospital No. 36 were out in the meadow 
picking marguerites with which to decorate the graves on the morrow, when their attention 
was called to a truck, from which the voice of the assistant chief nurse called, "There is 
a call for ten nurses for special duty at the front, to be ready in half an hour. Will you 
go?" The reply was more remarkable for its enthusiasm than its grammar — "WILL we?", 
and they immediately started in the direction of the quarters, stopping on the way to warn 
their particular friends to hurry and volunteer, before the team was made. 

The trip as told in the diary of one of the nurses is as follows : — 

"After the usual order and counter order, we finally climbed into the waiting ambu- 
lances, and received some queer looking bags, as well as a multitude of minor instructions, 
and we were off. I sat immediately behind the driver, who, having covered the ground 
several times before, could occasionally call our attention to objects of passing interest as 
we flew by. We certainly did not waste any time ; I had no idea that ambulances could 
travel so fast. 

"As the distance increased between us and the Base, the hamlets and villages through 
which we passed showed more and more evidence of the gentle footprints of the Boche; 
and we learned that this country had been occupied by the enemy in 1914, but was aban- 
doned — their attention being more closely centered on the other end of the line — nearer 
the sea. 

"The queer looking bags contained gas masks; and the officer in charge, when the ma- 
chines stopped for a few minutes en route, briefly explained their method of use, and told 
us that the reason of the emergency call was a severe attack during the night of gas shells 
mixed with high explosive — a new trick, which had cost the Americans a good many lives. 

"Having learned that the 42nd Division was located in this sector, the Germans had 
become very inquisitive, and were paying them considerable attention. Slowing up to pass 
through the village of Epinal, our attention was called to the church spire, which had been 
severely riddled by shrapnel; but the clock was still running, and keeping good time. This 
was regarded by the natives as a good omen — as long as the clock kept going they would 
be safe. 

"In due course we arrived at our destination, just in time for lunch — served in a large 



tent, on the roof of which was a big Red Cross. The evacuation hospital was located on the 
outskirts of Baccarat, famous for its cut glass ; and our buildings were in fairly good con- 
dition — two story brick school buildings, and several tents. 

"In our interview with the chief nurse. Miss Mary MacDonald, afterwards decorated 
with the Distinguished Service Cross, we learned that the situation was considered quite 
serious. We each had to print our name, Hospital number, and present assignment, on a 
piece of linen (we had no identification disks in those days), and sew it securely on our 
clothing; we must never go anywhere without the small type of gas mask — the French 
type — night or day, on duty or off, in or out of bounds. If we were allowed pass off duty, 
we were to sign in a book, the direction in which we were going, and the approximate 
length of time we expected to be gone. All these precautions indicated the anxiety caused 
by the intermittent air raids. 

"We learned that over thirty patients had died during the night; and that two of the 
barbers, who had cut the hair of the men on admission, had succumbed also, from the gas 
which clung to the men, even after the initial alkaline bath had been given. So realizing 
that we were indeed 'somewhere in France' in earnest, we went on duty, and were kept 
exceedingly busy for the next three days. 

"The nights, though 'quiet' according to reports, were far from restful. A second gas 
attack, much less severe than the first, and for which the men were more prepared, was 
not nearly so disastrous ; but the three ambulances which had failed to return the night 
before had to be given up as lost ; either they had been blown to atoms, or the drivers had 
been killed by the gas from which they were trying to rescue their comrades. 

"A real hero of the first night was the secretary of the Y. M. C. A., who, though warned 
of the danger of going out without a mask, continued to help bring in the boys, until he, 
too, 'went West.' 

"Our first night there we did not sleep at all ; but by the next night we were mighty 
glad of the little French cots, and managed to get some rest, in defiance of the '75's, ma- 
chine guns, and 'H. E.,' which occasionally reminded us that we were not at home in the 
good old U. S. A. 

"I had a ward of twenty beds ; seven of the men were on oxygen the first day, admin- 
istered for twenty minutes of each alternate hour ; each man had at least one alkaline bed 
bath per day, and none were allowed to do a thing for themselves, even though they felt 
equal to do so. They were very good about lying still — in fact seemed glad to do so — 
until the third day, by which time most of them were in fair condition. On this morning 
there was a battle in the air, and it was difficult to keep them in bed — they were as ex- 
cited as if it were a ball game. The man in the bed nearest the window, leaning up on his 
elbow, watched the affair, and kept up a running description of its progress. 

"This was when I was afraid that half of my 'star' cases would get out of bed, and 
undo all that the rest and treatment had done. They did not, however ; and I breathed a 
sigh of deep relief when the last man was carried out to the train, to be transferred to 
the Base, and I could report 'No deaths.' 

"How good it seemed to get back to the Base, and get water to wash with ! The water 
supply in and around the Evacuation Hospital was badly polluted, so very little was used, 
and this not until the top sergeant had emptied a whole tube of Chlorine into each small 
bucket. 

"It was no use ; you might call it 'coffee' for breakfast, or 'tea' for supper, but it was 
all just plain Chlorine to the taste. 

"Looking back on the continuous and strenuous action of those days and nights, it is 
difficult to classify one's impressions. We only knew that we had been very close to a 
great war ; close enough to wear a gas mask ; to see day break through a mist of smoke, 



and in a din of conflict; and to admire the m ettle of the American doughboy, his fortitude, 
his sympathy with the buddie whom he considered worse off than himself, his philosphic 
endurance, and unfailing sense of humor. 

Edith Medhurst. 

R. A. N. C. 

A. E. F." 

"Experiences at Compiegne" 

Vittel, March 7th, 1918. 

The following nurses will report at Compiegne for duty March 10th: Malinda Harvey, 
Josephine Valentine, Agnes Reid, Aurel Baker. 

Signed — - 

Major Phillips. C. O. 

Probably no order ever written made four nurses any happier than this one and we 
began making our preparations for the trip immediately. These preparations not only in- 
cluded pressing blue serge uniforms, but also a visit to the Mayor of Vittel in order to get 
a sort of passport which gave one permission to travel. 

On the morning of our departure we were up at five A. M. Ethel Lickely and "Peggy" 
Lockhart, on night duty at Des Sources, had a good breakfast ready for us and then the 
ambulance called to take us to Gondrecourt. We took the train here direct for Paris, 
spent the night there and started for Compiegne next morning, after a three hour ride. 

We reported immediately to our French C. O. and found that we were privileged to 
observe and assist with dressings both at the Ambrine and Carrel-Dakin Hospitals. As 
the dressings for the day had already been done, the C. O. suggested that we use the after- 
noon for sight seeing and report next morning for duty. 

It was such a beautiful sunny day that we decided to take a ride through the wonder- 
ful forest of Compiegne. For fifteen kilos we rode through the woods before there was an 
opening in the forest. At one point a young fawn crossed the road before us. Finally we 
arrived at a village and visited chateau Pierrefonds, the chief object of interest in the town. 

Coming home we were all four almost asleep from the warmth of the sun and jolting 
of our cabby, when suddenly something went wrong with our nag and she began to kick 
and run. The driver was kicked and rolled out. Then we nurses took turns jumping out, 
all except Lindy, and she was thrown out when the horse jumped over one of those ever 
present roadside stone piles. We were all rather badly shaken up and bruised, but Agnes 
fared worse. She had a broken arm. A French captain brought us to our hotel in his 
automobile and we finally got settled down for the night, we thought. However, at nine 
P. M., just as we -were getting drowsy, a siren blew. One knew what it was for without 
being told. The hotel clerk told us we must all go to the cellar. The lights went off. And 
with all our pains and stiffness we had to grope our way to the cellar. A few candles were 
lighted and an American Officer was down there whistling "When You Come to the End 
of a Perfect Day," etc. We finished the Perfect Day, our first in Compiegne, in the cel- 
lar. Soon after twelve P. M. the bugle sounded which indicated that the Boche planes 
were across their boundaries and we climbed the stairs to our rooms. 

For the next few days I will let my diary tell the story: 

March 11th. Again the occupants of Palace Hotel are in the cellar and as I write, the 
machine guns are popping, aimed at German planes. Last night they did not use the anti- 
air craft guns, but tonight they are being fired just out in our street. The chateau of 
Napoleon III is just across the street and is being used as military headquarters, so is an 
objective point. 

March 12th. The air raid kept us in the cellar until one this A. M., so it was with 
some effort that we arose at eight A. M. to get to the hospital at nine, where we were 



allowed to assist in the dressing of burn-cases, using ambrine treatment. The dressing is 
removed very carefully so as not to destroy granulations. The wound is then irrigated with 
a weak solution of peroxide and then thoroughly dried with a machine like an electric hair 
drier. Ambrine is then applied with a spray and covered with a thin cotton dressing. 
More ambrine is applied over that and then covered with a liberal amount .of cotton to keep 
the heat in. This must be kept in place well by bandaging. It is a very comfortable 
dressing. Another siren tonight. We all went to the cellar, l)ut no guns were fired. 

March 13th. Helped dress a few cases with ambrine this morning. Agnes had her 
arm X-Rayed and they found a fracture with no displacement. However, she secured an- 
other cabby for us and we took a nice trip through the Forest of Compiegne once more, 
only in a different direction than we went Sunday. We passed a good many German pris- 
oners working on the roads. At Choisy-Au-Bac many buildings were in ruins. All along 
the way we saw barbed wire entanglements, and at Bailly we went right into the trenches, 
first the French and then the German. These were occupied about a year ago, when the 
Germans were driven back. No man's land was being plowed and a few houses in the 
town had been re-built. 

March 14. Met Elsie DeWolfe at the Ambrine Hospital today. She maintains hei 
own little dressing room there. 

March 15th. Miss DeWolfe invited me to help her dress a case. Later all American 
and French nurses, the French C. O., and Miss DeWolfe had their picture taken in the court 
back of Ambrine Hospital. 

March 17th. Finish observations at Ambrine Hospital. Went to have tea with Miss 
DeWolfe at her lovely little villa. In the cellar again for protection. 

March 18th. Started our observations at Carrel-Dakin Hospital today. The hospital 
was never so nearly empty, we are told. 

March 19th. Watched the dressings at Carrel-Dakin Hospital this A. M. and had a 
lecture by an English speaking doctor about the use of Dakin's solution. 

March 20th. Saw two operations at the Carrel-Dakin Hospital. They operate with 
very little fuss — no clean nurse — no hand solutions — a nurse gives ether. The O. R. has 
not been repainted since being taken over as a hospital. This evening Unit 33 nurses en- 
tertained us at a 500 party. Just as refreshments were being served we heard the boom 
of distant cannon. It continued steadily all evening. Guess that Spring Drive we have 
been talking about so long is here at last, (and it was). 

March 31st. Secretary Baker and General Pershing are in Compiegne today. I saw 
them as they were leaving General Petain's residence. Secretary Baker got out of the auto 
to meet an American ofiicer. He is a small, unpretentious looking man. 

Just as I was enjoying a grand soaking in the tub, the siren blew, and I deliberately 
dressed and went to the celler. It was the right thing to do because eight bombs were 
dropped on the city. A lot of window panes were broken. No lives were lost except for 
one dog. 

March 22nd. Today we finished our observations at the Carrel-Dakin and had a lec- 
ture in French which we understood a very little. A perfectly terrible air raid, the worst 
we have had yet, is on while I am writing. The clerk of the hotel thinks a bomb has fallen 
on the Palace of Napoleon across the street from us. 

Later. We went out to see the damage that had been done. The depot was bombea. 
Both hospitals where we had been working were badly damaged. The beautiful rose colored 
velvet rug of Carrel-Dakin had about three inches of plaster and glass piled up on it. At 
the Ambrine the shell came through the ceiling of the dining room where we took oui 
meals. They got the patients into the basement and no one was badly hurt except an or- 
derly, who had his femoral artery severed and was operated on by candle-light in the cellar. 



Our last day in Compiegne had been as eventful as the first. Not entirely satisfied to return 
to peaceful Vittel, we obtained furlough permission to go to Dames-Camiero near Boulogne 
where Unit 13 from Chicago were helping the English. Our stay here was shortened because ot 
the German advance toward Amiens through which city we must pass to return home. The 
twenty-ninth of March found us back at Vittel and it seemed very fine to be with the friends 
of Base No. 36 once more. Of course Louise Reutz had a lunch ready for us in the dining room 
of Hotel Des Sports. I remember I had sixteen letters to read and four boxes to open. (Was 
there ever such joy as when Bruno and Britz brought over that big sack of mail?) But best 
of all was the undisturbed, peaceful night far from the maddening crowd of Boche planes. 

Aurel Baker Purdee, A. N. C. 

To Fellow Comrades of Base Thirty-six : 

Words fail to express the warm-hearted feeling the Toledo nurses who served with 
your unit in France have for you and the citizens of Detroit, who did much to aid our com- 
fort and make it possible for us to render better service to our country during the great 
war. 

It was a happy day for our sixteen nurses when Margaret Gierman returned from De- 
troit bearing the good news that Base 36 was being organized. Attention was called, and 
right about face to Detroit we turned, anxiously awaiting the day when our coach — laden with 
flowers and good wishes from our Toledo friends — was hitched to the Detroit train enroute for 
New York. 

How the memories of Gunhill Road cling to us ! I have only to close my eyes and 
I see and hear in Ward 17, where we were billeted for a short time, "I. O. U.," and "U. 
O. Me"! Miss Headley and Miss Ramler, Miss Gierman and Miss Roll exchanging money 
and straightening their accounts after the day's shopping; Miss Reutz scolding Penelope 
Smith for not getting up when the bugler called in the morning; Mrs. Bolton crocheting; 
Miss Leggate and Miss Lewis writing to their loved ones or the "boys they left behind" ; 
Miss Lickley composing poetry ; Miss Turner dreaming of her home in England — possibly 
Norma Miller and Miss Wonderly having a "date" over the fence with an ofificer. Miss 
Ferguson spent much time in visiting the store rooms and buying up fruit and jam for 
future use in France. Quiet Kitty Gorman was seldom around camp. But "still waters 
run deep." Miss Valentine, who after serving with the Red Cross in Serbia and in France 
with Base 36, is now a missionary in China. 

These are a few of the many pleasant recollections of Base 36 that will long remain 
in the memory of the sixteen Toledo nurses. 

Harriet Turner, A. N. C. 

Homeward Bound 

During the long, weary days which followed the signing of the Armistice, weary be- 
cause of that eager desire which existed in all of us for homelands, days with nothing much 
to do but think and wait, ever looking forward instead of backward, anything which would 
add a new thrill to our lives was recognized by all (barring our superior officers, perhaps) 
as permissible. 

One of the stunts which Nurses, Men and Officers and (the writer places the officers 
last and nurses first because I know the men would have it so, and besides it gives all 
a very diflferent feeling) engaged in during the period already described was that of Proph- 
ecy! ! better known to those most interested in this book as "Army Rumor." One Nurse, 
met another and the following conversation ensued : 

"Did you hear the latest?" 

"No, what, let's have it." 

Now for the thrill — 



"Our travel orders are here for the good old U. S. A." 

"Never; do you really mean it?" 

And so it went. It really proved much better sport than most people could imagine. 
The dash of enthusiasm and the resulting confusion and excitement all proved very inter- 
esting. 

Lo! ! ! February of 1919 really did bring the longed-for Travel-Orders and I spell it 
with capitals because of its great importance. Our Unit or Outfit, as we were referred to 
in the Army, which had hung together through all the trials, tribulations and sorrows 
which are sure to make themselves felt during the stress of war, was about to separate. 
Some we were leaving behind, sleeping with hundreds of others only to travel when the 
"Trumpet Sounds," never to see them here again. To our French friends we were saying 
many an "Au Revoir." The breaking up of our Base Hospital No. 36 was a wee bit hard, 
and not a few of us felt a slight pulling at the heart-strings, as most of us had grown very 
near and dear to each other, sharing as we did our joys and sorrows, all of which was unit- 
ing us unconsciously in a true bond of friendship which naught but death can sever. As 
the years roll by, I believe this feeling of true fellowship is felt more and more. 

Our outfit was sent to the coast in two detachments. The writer, being a part of the 
second detachment, will confine herself to the journey of that particular group. 

Monday morning early was the time set for our departure. We were served supper 
the night before by Miss Marion Porter, Y. W. C. A. worker, who had charge of a Red 
Cross Hut in our village and who had won her way into the hearts of each of us by her 
thoughtfulness and consideration and pleasant manner. After breakfast, which was served 
us by Base Hospital No. 33, a Buffalo Unit which had occupied the same village during 
our sojourn in France, we boarded one of the slow-moving French trains (famous for one 
thing, never arriving anywhere on time). We rather scented we were headed for Paris (and 
might mention here that in the army we scented everything, being told but little, for rea- 
sons best known to Army Officials). After what would have proved a long, weary trip 
but for the thought of the Statue of Liberty which was before us constantly, evening found 
us in Paris. It vvas eight o'clock and the problem which confronted our Acting Command- 
ing Officer was to procure quarters for this large group of nurses. It was a problem not 
at all new to many of us, who had tried in vain to find quarters there on previous occa- 
sions. After a few futile efforts on the part of our officers we were told to find quarters 
where we could and to meet at a designated time and place next morning. 

Forthwith our detachment separated into groups of twos, threes and fours, and soon 
we found ourselves searching hither and yon for a bed. The writer was one of a group of 
four. Finally inspired (because nothing short of inspiration could have led us to such 
luxury), one of our party decided that if we could find a certain hotel in which she had 
stayed once, several months previous, she felt sure that the proprietor would make a spe- 
cial effort to accommodate us. After we had retraced our footsteps at least a thousand 
times, we stopped in despair and found ourselves outside of the hotel we were seeking, 
much to our astonishment. It proved to be the Continental, and I think as I write that the 
mention of the name may bring a recollection to not a few, as it was quite a place for 
Americans. The spokesman was of Irish nationality and attached to her unmastered French 
a beautiful Irish brogue. The proprietor of the hotel, however, had been previously attacked, 
evidently, by this language and understood it. I dare mention this now, without fear of 
reprimand, because the nurse to whom I refer is and has been for some time past doing an 
admirable work as missionary in the far away Belgian Congo. After a very satisfactory 
meal, we were conducted to our room by the hotel-keeper who showed his delight at see- 
ing once more this fair Mademoiselle Americaine by smiles, bows, gesture and genuflexions 
as only a real Frenchman can execute. He being of the short, fat, thick-necked type, the 




''^■~?^r 






Anna Kaiser. Kilty KHorcin, Cassie Gclincau Arriznng Home 
iit Detroit. 



At Home. Michigan Central. 



effort on his part was indeed great. Our room proved to be the most spacious and the 
best equipped we had seen, including even a bath-tub. We each enjoyed the soothing, 
comforting feeling of a plunge and soon Morpheus had claimed us for the night. 

Next morning all met in the appointed place and at the appointed hour, and once again 
we were journeying across France by train, this time in the direction of the Coast. After 
a day's trip we reached La Boule, a small town in Brittany, about 5 :30 in the evening. 
Here we were quartered in a large hotel with 600 other nurses, hailing from all parts of 
the States and representing various Military outfits all waiting for steamer bookings. 

LaBoule was a very interesting place and all the good people there seemed to possess 
a certain air of contentment in spite of the fact that they had so little. Most of us found 
considerable pleasure in our walks. We would start out by the first path that offered 
itself and walk straight on as chance would lead. Provided we had noticed a few promi- 
nent landmarks we were sure to find our way back. In this way we enjoyed the unex- 
pected and explored the cou.ntry. To know where you are going and by what way is surely 
very boring, especially to women who had been used to traveling in the army, never really 
knowing where they were going or whether the trip was to be made by train or horseback 
and then, too, the imagination flowers the landscape in advance. 

I suffered a most grievous disenchantment when I tried to see the sea. We asked in 
our particular French which we Americans all understood perfectly, of a Frenchman, who 
evidently didn't understand so well, "Where is the sea?" Not just accenting our words 
properly, the Frenchman misunderstood, and in his politest manner told us to follow him. 
After circling around the village we landed at an office door and the Frenchman said "Voila," 
meaning there it is. We discovered we were standing outside the office of the Mayor of 
the village. Three days elapsed before we felt that we really cared to look for the sea. 
Our time here was spent exploring surrounding territory and visiting St. Nazaire, a large 
seaport a few miles away. Of course, we assumed we would sail from this port, but much 
amazed, one day we received travel orders to proceed to Brest, a large seaport many miles 
away. This place was one which we dreaded going to because of many unfavorable re- 
ports, but it proved to be a place which had given a vast amount of consideration and 
thought to the comfort of those who might sojourn with them. We were met by ambu- 
lances and conveyed to the camp from the train. We were registered and re-registered 
and registered again and again, but when we reached our final barracks we found hot choc- 
olate and doughnuts awaiting us and lovely comfortable beds with new blankets and 
even new pajamas on the beds. In other words, the nearer we arrived to home the better 
we were treated. After five days at this port we were finally put aboard a steamer called 
"Agamemnon" and were on the home stretch. 



The Agamemnon had been built in peace time for the Kaiser and it was especially 
narrow and made it more than possible for us to feel the slightest roll of the boat. This 
boat had been remodeled into a troop boat, which meant few accommodations. It mattered 
not, however. After 19 months' sojourn in France during wartime anything which would 
bring us once again to home and all whom we held nearest and dearest was acceptable. The 
idea of journeying homeward with a definite end, without the recent strain and cares and 
all the disagreeable thoughts blotted out filled us with an air of comfort and a great desire 
to live and to do good. After the voyage was ended, our time having been spent in ex- 
changing ideas on how New York would affect us and what we would do when we landed, 
especially along the eating line, we set foot on the shores of old New York, March 13th, 
1919, and I mean it when I say "That day the sun shone." 

During a period of convalescence which the writer experienced in France, I was gripped 
with almost an insane desire for soft boiled eggs. Now soft boiled eggs, or any other kind 
of eggs, were not at all easy to procure during those days, and as I convalesced with noth- 
ing to do but think, I decided that when I reached New York I'd satisfy my hunger for 
eggs. On the boat across we talked of foods we'd buy, but somehow few of us purchased 
that which we thought we were most hungry for. My egg taste changed to grape-fruit and 
bananas. 

Our arrival in New York was quite uneventful. Somehow we did not seem as pop- 
ular as when we left there, no parades, no fine music, but really we didn't need it to arouse 
enthusiasm. The sight of the Statue of Liberty and the shores of old New York gripped 
us with feeling of enthusiasm which parades and music could never have instilled and 
which could only be given vent to by a few silent tears which could easily be seen rolling 
down the cheeks of most of us. ' 

We were transported from the dock to the Polyclinic Hospital, where we were regis- 
tered and "deloused," much to the disgust of not a few. Then when the government de- 
cided we were sufficiently clean we were quartered in hotels. Here we did enjoy our short 
stay, spent in window-shopping and looking at the pretty spring displays, always comparing 
everything with France, the country which is and was always noted for style, but quite 
satisfied with our own country. After five days of this we found that our own town, De- 
troit, was really anxious to have us home, so much so that Mayor Couzens, who is at 
present a Senator, chartered a special train and sent a representative to meet us in New 
York. We landed in Detroit, M. C. R. R., March 17th, 1919, at 2:00 P. M., were served a 
chicken dinner at the depot of the M. C. R. R. The dinner was indeed luscious, but the mo- 
ment was so exciting that I am afraid it was not relished by many. 

Many at this moment were much happier than others. Those who had honest-to-good- 
ness homes with immediate families were exaltingly and supremely happy. For myself, I 
have to thank one or two friends for my pleasant homecoming and to the friends who did 
so much for me and made me so happv I am eternally grateful. 

M. G. Murphy. A. N. C. 

Our French Friends 

To put all things in their proper places, with nicety and with tact — this is to be truly French. 
Then, surely, it is most fitting that this little chronicle of our French friends should begin with 
mention of Monsieur Gerard, Mayor of Vittel. Was there any member of "36" who never had 
occasion to confer with M. le Maire? Just beyond the public square stood his pale pink house 
with a side door leading to the offices. One waited in an outer room where the antedeluvian 
clerk was writing longhand in huge tomes; in the inner office sat the mayor, enthroned behind 
a mountain of papers. He was the clever political boss of the neighborhood and a diplomatic 
friend of the Americans. Our relations with him were of the pleasantest. 



But Vittel is really two places in one; the old, old village, where Joan of Arc's aunt once 
lived, and the fine modern watering place. Just as the mayor is head of the village so the 
family of Bouloumie directs the Societe des Eaux de Vittel. It was real loss to us that M. Jean 
Bouloumie's military duties kept him away from home so such for so we missed a closer ac- 
quaintance with a very fine type of French gentleman. But the presence of Madame Bouloumie, 
as "Lady of the Manor," in their beautiful home across from the Ceres, added greatly to the 
atmosphere of the "season." M. Moitessier, an official of the Societe, was a grave and courteous 
man with whom we had to deal. It is generally conceded that he would make a fine poker 
player. He wore a blond beard and his office in a fine building was surrovmded by miles of 
slippery waxed floors. Mile. Pauline was the delightful keeper of the keys of the Grand Hotel. 
From her magic store of furniture we bore ofif many an article, to fit up an office, to turn the 
Palace dining room into a chapel or to make the Y. M. C. A. and Red Cross huts look more 
homelike. Mile. Pauline is a splendid example of French business woman, competent, yet 
feminine. 

A very keen business rhan was M. Parot, as the officers found when they rented the parlor 
of the Central from him for a library. 

When the hospitals were running capacity we had sixty-two French women employed in our 
own unit. Chief of these was kindly, gray-haired Mme. Harmand, who was a familiar figure as 
she made her daily rounds from building to building in the mud. Perhaps the most generally 
popular among our French girls was "Toto" (Ernestine Poirson). Toto was about sixteen and 
worked at the Central. She learned English so fast that other interpreters could soon have 
been given their walking papers. She is now in America with the Haugheys and soon to be 
married and I have no doubt that she already talks and dresses as though she had never lived 
away from Battle Creek. It is too bad there is not space in which to remember many others ; 
honest old Madame Goujot at Headquarters, with her rough hands and gentle heart; fat Katinka 
or lively Felicie at the Ceres; Mme. Perrin or red-cheeked, energetic Paule at the Sports and a 
host of others. We remember most of them with real affection. 

Besides these paid workers there were a number of ladies and young girls of Vittel who did 
faithful and fine work by making up dressings for the hospital. We are grateful to them all 
and particularly to Mile. Denise Lecomte who came so regularly to prepare supplies for the oper- 
ating room at the Ceres. 

If we are talking of the French people who had official connection with the Unit there are 
two more who must not be forgotten — the nurses' landladies! Mme. Laprevote ruled the Hotel 
des Tilleuls from her fascinating kitchen in the cellar. I can see her now, with her solid dark 
pompadour and poTtly form, bending over the big stove in the corner while she cooked the in- 
evitable "pommes frites" or prepared dehcious hot chocolate for breakfast. Many a case of home- 
sickness, bred from eating by the hundred, was cured by a breakfast at the oil-cloth covered 
table in the center of the smoky kitchen, while the pet pigeon strolled among the dishes. She 
was a shrewd business woman, from whom escaped not one little towel or pillow-case. And 
Madame Blanchon ! ! Only a Balzac could do justice to her eccentricities. Fond of money she 
was — and yet that was not her only aim, for she gathered objects with passionate eagerness. 
When burlap came, wrapped around some of our goods, she hemmed it for floor rags and fur- 
iously berated the maids as it wore out. She was reputed wealthy, we know the Blanchons owned 
much property, yet she dressed in calico and collected tomatoes thrown out by the hospitals to 
put them up in jars ! But speaking of her cooking, ah ! at that she was nothing short of a genius. 
She could be kindly and generous too, although when in a temper her angry screams were 
heard for blocks around. Mme. Blanchon's great concern was tender solicitude for her delicate 
old husband and the quiet pathos in her face, when he was ill with pneumonia, endeared her to us 
in spite of her idiosyncracies. 




Our French Friends 
First Coluinn: — Old French woman ivith donkey cart; A fuiiiiliar fiyiirc in Park; Captain Norman; Madame 

Blanchon. 

Second Colutnn: — The Misses Malvoisin: Ernestine Poirson "To To." 

Third Column: — The lace maker; Madame Paris and Madame Oiidot; Dr. and Madame Fay; Madame Laprevote 

and her daughter. 



163 



A protegee of the Blanchon's was ]\Ime. Jeanne, the Merry Widow and "belle chocolatiere" 
of Vittel. She loudly bemoaned the loss of her husband in the war (his picture hung above her 
bed) but found some consolation in the brass buttons and Sam Brown belts which daily congre- 
gated at her chocolate shop under the Arcade. "Our French friends" — Madame Michalle, the 
concierge of the Nurses' Hut, will always be remembered for her kindly interest in us all. 

There were other nice shops under the arcade in summ.er but in winter we fell back on the 
village stores. "Crowley-Milner," alias Humboldt-Noel, was the largest, and the family lived 
behind the shop in cosy proximity. The barber and his wife were greatly patronized and the 
barber's assistant was a Paris music-hall singer with a glorious voice whom the Army had 
dressed in horizon blue and stationed in Vittel. Perhaps the most popular shop, among the men, 
was "Vins Fins"! However, this may not have been as anti-Volstead as it sounds for the place 
was also famous for beaf steak and French frieds. A villager once said: "All Americans are 
enrages for "bifstek et pommes frites." 

Beyond the Mayor's house stands, and has stood for centuries, the village church. M. le Cure 
carried on bravely with the work of the parish, o ften in spite of weariness and pain, for war had 
taken many younger priests away. He was a fine old man with a sensitive and spiritual face, a 
true father and shepherd of his flock. 

It would be impossible to mention all the friends of the Unit in Vittel for there was hardly 
an American who did not form some attachments in the village, but there are a few more who 
might be generally remembered: Mile. Grunf elder and the teachers and pupils of the Normal 
Schools; Mile. Fabienne of the hairdressing shop; Mme. Paris who made the study of French a 
pleasure for quite a number; the Malvoisin family with two charming and well chaperoned 
daughters; and Dr. Finck and his family whose presence at Church on Sunday morning (the 
Httle girls in crisp dresses and flowered hats) gave a feeling of home to our protestant services. 

Father Louis must also be remembered for his untiring devotion to our French patients 
wherever they were located. Dr. and Madame Fay's hospitable villa was always open to the 
nurses and the produce of their garden was given to them most generously. 

And now last, because perhaps most important of all, I corne to Father Bonnet, the inter- 
preter allotted to us by the French government. Small, but full of energy and good humour, he 
was essentially that most delightful thing to be— a good mixer. He was popular with every one 
but was also a reverent priest, a good musician and a warm French patriot. Who will forget 
Father Bonnet's joy as day by day he pinned up the glorious communiques of October and 
November, 1918? And it was he who inspired the. ringing of the Chapel bell as news of more 
and more victories came in. When at last victory had brought peace, and peace had started happy 




Coiifiniiation Class at Fair Grounds, Detroit. 
164 



Americans toward home, Father Bonnet was still there, joyfully gathering up a carload of warm 
things we had left behind us to send them to the devastated regions. 

That he was not the only friend we left in Vittel was proved by the rush of citizens (or 
was it mostly citizenesses?) that flooded the station on the drizzly February evening when the 
men of Base Hospital 36 entrained for Bordeaux. Yes, we left many friends behind us ; — left 
behind, too, are the thoughts of hard or unhappy days we may have spent there, and now the 
little town in its setting of green hills is warm in our memories, and will be, I think, for many 
years to come. 

Elizabeth Hammond Shepard. 

Chaplain's Department 

With the mobilization of B. H. 36 August 33, 1917, the Chaplain's department was 
inaugurated to have oversight of the religious and welfare work. The work, begun in camp 
at the Fair Grounds, was continued overseas until the Unit left Vittel. Originally and for 
several months the Base Hospital Chaplain was authorized and provided for by the Red 




Rev. W. D. Maxon, D.D. 
Chaplain of Base Hospital No. 3B, A. E. F. 



Cross. Later in October, 1918, all Base Hospital Chaplains became directly subject to the 
Military as Commissioned Army Chaplains. From August, 1917, until January, 1918, the 
religious and welfare work was wholly carried on by Chaplain Maxon, assisted by Sergeant 
C. F. Brown, and privates Adrian Jones and G. W. Hyde. Besides the Sunday religious 
services, the department had charge of the mail, the canteen and entertainments. With the 
arrival of Red Cross, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. representatives early in 1918, much of 
the welfare work, including entertainments, was discharged by such representatives. 





Rev. E. J. Houghton 
Y. M. C. A. 



Rev. Arthur L. Washburn 
Chaplain B. H. 36. 




Rev. Harley Smith. 
Chaplain B. H. 36. 

In June, 1918, by arrangement between the heads of the Red Cross and the Y. W. C. 
A., the welfare work was committed to the Red Cross. Miss Porter of the Y. W. C. A., 
however, continued her excellent work in behalf of the Nurses. 

On our arrival at Vittel an attractive little Chapel was put at the disposal of the Chap- 
lain for services which were regularly maintained every Sunday morning for officers, en- 
listed men, nurses and convalescent patients. 

The first recreation room was opened in Hospital D, where for a time informal relig- 
ious and recreational meetings were held in the evening. Later under Mr. Norton Ives, a 
Y. M. C. A. worker, a recreation room was opened in the Galleries. Subsequently by the 
kindness of Major F. B. Walker the Dining Room of Hospital B was placed at our disposal 



for lectures, conferences and music. Still later, through Mr. G. Hunter Brown, the Red 
Cross representative, a room in the Casino with the theatre became the center of diversi- 
fied entertainment. In September, 1918, under the activity of Mr. Brown, an attractive Red 
Cross Hut was opened. 

Chaplain Maxon continued with the Unit until August 13, 1918, assisted in religious 
work by Rev. John Carlisle and Rev. E. J. Houghton, of the Y. M. C. A., privates Adrian 
Jones and G. W. Hyde, Miss Hammond and Miss Cooper. Censoring the mail, conduct- 
ing the post office, visiting the patients, distributing magazines and comfort bags and 
burying the dead, were among the varied privileges and duties of the Chaplain. The let- 
ter censorship after three months, by order of the Commanding Officer, was placed in the 
hands of several officers. The Chaplain also served as Assistant Superintendent of Graves 
in co-operation with the Graves Registration department. For several months in the well 
cared for village cemetery the dead were buried, their graves being marked with a wooden 
cross. Later a section of ground adjoining the Village Cemetery became the American 
Cemetery where in the Autumn, owing largely to the virulence of influenza, the graves were 
multiplied. For several months until the arrival of Father Feeney, Red Cross Chaplain of 
B. H. 33, the Chaplain of 36 conducted all burials — except in a few instances where a French 
priest duly administered the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. With the arrival of 
Father Feeney, the dead soldiers of both units who were Roman Catholics were buried by 
him ; while Protestants and all non-Catholics of Bases 36 and 83 were buried by the Chap- 
lain of 36. 

August 29, 1918, the Rev. Arthur L. Washburn became chaplain, continuing until Oct. 
29, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Harley W. Smith, an Army Chaplain, who served 
until the Unit was ordered home. 

The various chaplains of B. H. 36 wish to record their appreciation of the willing co- 
operation of the officers, nurses and enlisted men and to express their sense of the privilege 
afforded them of serving, as need required, the American Soldier during the never to be 
forgotten experience in Vittel. 

Chaplain Washburn writes : 
"I arrived at Base Hospital 36, Vittel, the evening of the 29th of August and received 
a most cordial welcome from the Commanding Officer and the Unit. I was given very 
comfortable quarters in the Headquarters Building consisting of a large sitting-room with 
a fireplace and an adjoining bedroom. This was especially well located, across the hal) 
from the Head Nurse's Office, as it permitted me to be informed at night, very promptly, 
of any patients who were dying or in great danger. At the time of my arrival, I remarked 
upon the few patients and the tremendous accommodations, the number of empty beds. Il 
was not many weeks before every bed was filled and all of our space taxed to the utter- 
most. As the Chaplain of Base Hospital 33 was a Roman Catholic, I always endeavored 
to secure his services for our Roman Catholic patients, while I in my rounds tried to care 
for all the Protestants, Jews and others. On account of the number, it was impossible to 
do all that I wished for our boys. 

"The co-operation of the members of the Unit was most helpful, and our fellowship 
and service mean much to me in the finest experiences of my life. During my chaplaincy, 
I officiated at 183 burials. Of these burials twelve were officers whose graves of higher 
number were in a part of the cemetery by themselves. The little English Chapel was very 
convenient for our services. Sunday evenings many of the unit gathered for singing and a 
talk in the beautiful Red Cross Hut. On October 29th I left Base Hospital 36 for Paris, 
where I was appointed War Commission Assistant of the Church of the Holy Trinity. It 
was with regret that I left my friends in Vittel for whom I always hold the warmest in- 
terest and regard." 




First Roil': — Cemetery. July 14th. l(/iS. 

Second Rozv: — Cemetery, American Graves; Dr. Ma.xon saying, "Good Bye." 

Third Row: — English Church. Vittel; July 14th, Vittel Cemetery: French Catholic Church. Vittel. 

Fourth Roiv: — American Section As it is Today, Vittel Cemetery; July 14th, Vittel Cemetery. 



Chaplain Smith writes : 

"I was ordered to service with No. 36 from the British area on Oct. 12, 1918, and 
remained with the unit until Jan. 30th, 1919, when I was ordered to the 357th Inf. Reg. 
Army of Occupation, Berncastle, Germany. My whole term of service overseas was about 
15 months, and I can truthfully say that the most pleasant was with Base Hospital No. 
36. The officers supported my service in the chapel splendidly and the men made the Sun- 
day night services in the Red Cross Hut a joy. Corp. Jones was of great assistance along 
with Miss Hammond. When I went into Germany with the infantry my baggage was 
lost, so the records of services and burials cannot be given. There were many 'incidents' 
in my stay at Vittel which were interesting to me, but I am afraid they would not be well 
in the book you are compiling." 

Rev. E. J. Houghton. Y. M. C. A., writes: 

"Our work at Vittel was fairly well organized and the men who were in attendance 
upon the hospital either as patients or attendants were well served by the Y. M. C. A. 
Our Headquarters were first situated in the Pavilion, afterwards in the beautiful Casino. 
Religious services were held every Sunday and one night in the week. We finally succeeded 
in arranging our schedule so that we had the Cinema two or three evenings, one night 
for a lecture or entertainment provided by Paris Headquarters. One evening we called 
'Stunt Night' ; the local troops providing the program. The Canteen was well supplied 
with provisions and comforts and was well patronized by the men. Athletic equipment was 
furnished. Reading and writing rooms were opened in the Casino, while in the Pavilion 
for a while we had the use of a billiard table. I have no record of the names of our asso- 
ciates in this work. There was a Mrs. William Andrews and a friend of hers, Miss Colcut, 
who rendered very excellent service. For a little while there was also a Miss Helen Sweet. 
These good women served in the canteen and visited the hospital under the direction of 
the Red Cross Chaplain. 

William D. Maxon. 





Rev. Maxon at Church Door. 



Church Soo Yaars Old, Vittel 



Chaplain's Notification 

The following is given as a specimen letter written by the Chaplain notifying relatives of the 
death and burial of a soldier: 

Mrs. P. Maley, 536 East Twelfth Street, Cincinnati, O. 
Base Hospital No. 36, A. E. P., France, January 4, 1918. 

My Dear Madam — I deeply regret to inform you that early in the morning of December 31, 
Edward J. Maley, private, Company I, 166th Infantry, 42nd Division, died after an illness of 
several days in our base hospital. He was sent here with some affection of the lungs, coughing 
almost incessantly. He was given immediate care and constant attention by our doctors and 
nurses. I visited him at his bedside and learned from him that he was of the Roman Catholic 
Church and that his mother lived in Cincinnati. I am therefore writing to you to express my deep 
sympathy and to inform you of some details which you might not otherwise receive. Before your 
son's death the French priest of this place visited him, heard his confession and administered the 
rite of Extreme Unction. On the day of burial, Wednesday, January 3, at 2 p. m., the body, 
placed in a casket draped with the American flag, was brought to the parish church of this place, 
escorted by six American soldiers, acting as pall-bearers. The requiem was sung by the French 
priest and later the procession proceeded to the local cemetery, where the French priest said the 
office of burial. At the conclusion of the service the chaplain of the hospital offered a prayer 
and gave orders for the removal of the flags and also for the bugler to sound "taps," while all 
stood at attention. 

A wooden cross bearing the name, age, date of death and the branch of service was set at 
the head of the grave. The body had been clothed with a soldier's uniform and the identification 
tag, together with a bottle containing a paper inscribed with name, age, etc., prescribed by army 
regulations was placed in the casket. The grave is in a plot of ground in the local cemetery, 
which our government has secured for the burial of those who die in our hospital. Here the 
body of your son rests while we believe his soul is securely kept in the arms of Almighty God. 
He died in the service of his country, ready to do his part to aid the country's cause. He died of 
sickness before he could do all that he set out to do. But bravely he did all he could and his 
countiy is grateful for his service. Assuring you again of my deepest sympathy, I am, 

Yours most sincerely, 

W. D. MAXON, 
Chaplain Base Hospital, No. 36, A. E. F. 




Convoy Train 



Jn IfiFmnriam 




Jack YuiWs Grave, Fitiel. 



JACK YUILL 
GEORGE WILSON 
CHARLES S. BOHN 
JOSEPH DERZAl 
MAUDE McGLYNN 



DIED JANUARY 18, 1918 
DIED OCTOBER 16, 1918 
DIED OCTOBER 18, 1918 
DIEDOCTOBER27. 1918 
DIED MAY 1919 




Abbe Paul Bonnet 



Soldiers, Gentlemen and Friends : 

On asking me to contribute a short chapter to the book you so advisably undertook 
to publish on the History of Base Hospital 36, Miss Cooper kindly wrote that no history 
of the unit would be complete without a photograph and a few lines from me. However 
flattering such a statement appeared to my ears, I do think no history of Base Hospital 36 
would be complete if there was no tribute paid to the wonderfully active work of the unit 
by any French pen. So I hasten to comply with your request. 

I arrived at Vittel in February, 1918, at the time when the French and American 
authorities had decided to establish a "Bureau de Liaison" to assist you in your work, while 
most of the hospitals of the unit were filled with French patients and had as yet received 
, but a very few American patients. For twelve months I have lived with Base Hospital 36, 
and I knew most of the ofificers, nurses and men of the unit. I saw you off on the sad, 
gloomy day when you said farewell to Vittel, and I continued my services to the American 
army as long as they were requested, until most of the buildings occupied by the unit dur- 
ing the war were handed over to their proprietors. Therefore I think I am really entitled 
to consider myself as the Frenchman who knew you best and who probably knows best 
what the local population thought of you. 

I have come to know you in the twofold character of interpreter and of priest. My 
object all through my stay among you was to assist in helping the people around me to 
understand you, not only in your speech, but in your ways, in doing away with prejudices 
or misunderstandings. It takes some little time for a foreigner to get into new ways, to 
feel at home among people brought up differently and according to dissimilar methods. 

Thanks to the broadmindness and unfailing charitable kindness of both officers and men 
of the unit, however, the population of Vittel soon came to realize that their guests wholly 
deserved their esteem and trust, and I write this that you should be proud to think that 
you have done as much and probably more than any other American unit to tighten the 
bonds of friendship between your noble nation and mine. The War Office in Paris would 
have honored itself by showing its gratitude in a more liberal manner to men and officers 
who always were, in heart and life, real soldiers, true gentlemen and devoted friends ! 





Statue of Joan D'Arc Above Altar 
Presented to Church by 
Base Hospital No. 36. 



Interior of Catholic 
Church, Vittel 



For over a year, every occasion that was offered you to help any French soldier or 
civilian, sick, wounded or in distress, was seized with such prompt solicitude as to create 
a feeling of admiration among those who witnessed your enterprising charitable spirit. 

Soldiers, indeed, you were. Knowing how much he could rely on the courage and 
valor of the Americans, General de Castelnau did not hesitate to declare, as early as August. 
1918, that victory was bound to be ours. 

Gentlemen, you always were men of your word, ready to take the responsibility of 
whatever step you took. 

Your sense of friendship affirmed itself in such a striking manner as to make American 
become synonymous of goodhearted all through the Vittel district. 

I take it as a privilege to have been called to live among you, to take share in your 
daily labors, in your celebrations, in your days of mourning. 

I like to recall the many pleasant memories attached to my stay at Vittel and I am glad 
to state that the foremost wish I used to express when thinking of the post-war days, has 
been entirely fulfilled. The population of Vittel think of you exactly as I did : you stand 
to their eyes as real types of fine soldiers, gentlemen and friends. 

On Decoration Day, last year, an impressive ceremony took place at the cemetery, and 
the little boys and girls of France brought their floral tributes and prayers to the graves 
of all those of the American Army who still lay on the French soil. I have not, unfor- 
tunately, the text of the Mayor's speech on that occasion, but I feel sure his address was 
not very different from that which I gave myself on Nov. 1st, 1918, when asked by Colonel 
Shurly to conduct the funeral of Private Joseph Derzai : "No doubt it is a heartrending 
grief for a soldier to die in a foreign land, so far away from home. But France will no 
more be a foreign land to the Americans after the war. So much of pure American blood 
has been shed in this country that has mingled with the noblest French blood, and there 
are so many dear sons of the United States lying in the French cemeteries, that we feel 
more and more as the children of a same mother, united in the same loving brotherhood. 



This cemetery is, so to say, part of the sacred territory that was defended from the ambi- 
tion of the enemy, that heroes coming from the different parts of the world should be laid 
down to rest there, to teach the generations to come the great lesson of charity which they 
themselves practiced. French men and women will make it their duty to come here and 
take care of these American graves, when you have gone back to your native land, re- 
membering that, whatever honor they pay to the sons of America, they pay it to the de- 
fenders of the French territory and to the supporters of the same noble cause for which 
their own sons, or brothers, or fathers died, the cause of honor and justice, therefore the 
cause of God Himself!" 

Paul Bonnet, 

11 Rue des Macchabees, Lyons. 



MONSIEUR JEAN BOULOUMIE 

Mayor of the City of Vittel ; President of the Society of Waters ; Major in the Medical 
Corps of the French Army; was a great friend of the Americans. He learned our lang- 
uage, spoke it fluently, and studied our history and our institutions. He was very much in- 
terested in America. The great number of his kindly offices and timely interventions in 
trouble can only be understood by the administration. He was the Supreme Judge in a 
dispute and settled our difficulties amicably and with justice. Our command, the sick and 
wounded will never fully know his many kindly acts. He is esteemed by the people who 
know him and fully appreciated by them. 

B. R. Shurly. 




Monsieur Bouloumic, Mayor of Vittel, Giving an Address Memorial Day, if)2l, Ameriean Cemetery, Vittel, Franee 




Major G. Hunter Brown 



Report of Red Cross Activities 

Base Hospital No. 36, A. E. F. 

After the arrival of the Representative in January, 1918, a vi^eek was taken to study the lay- 
out of these Bases, to become acquainted with the officers, and look over the situation generally 
at Vittel with a view of determining the type of American Red Cross activities that should be 
instituted. 

Vittel is a summer watering place, consisting largely of 11 great stone hotels, which had been 
converted into hospitals by Bases 23 and 36, and about equally divided among them. These 
hotels were largely owned and controlled by the Societe des Eaux de Minerale de Vittel, and in 
addition thereto the Societe owned and controlled a very beautiful Park in which were situated 6 
fine tennis courts, a horse-show ground, a fine opera house, the usual type of French Galleries 
fronting upon the two large springs of Vittel water, and two bathing establishments of the first 
and second class. They also owned and controlled a farm of 110 acres lying contiguous to the 
Steeple Chase course, about one-half mile from the Park. The Representative found temporarily 
installed in the Gallerie Morasque, looking on the Galleries above mentioned, a Y. M. C. A. can- 
teen which was being operated on a small scale by a Y. M. C. A. Secretary. 

The first activity that was undertaken by the Representative was the inauguration in this Gal- 
lerie of Cinema performances. A Cinema machine was requisitioned from Paris headquarters, 
together with an operator and a courier service between Vittel and the Bureau of Projection in 
Paris for the purpose of providing this Post and the contiguous Post at Contrexeville with films. 
Stoves were installed in this stone Gallerie with a view to making it habitable in winter, and 
the performances were immediately inaugurated and were tremendously patronized by the Staff, 
personnel and patients, who commenced to arrive at these Bases in December, 1917. 



The capacity of this Gallerie was about 400 seated, but hardly a performance was given that 
it did not contain more than 500. The lease of the Gallerie was taken over by the American Red 
Cross and the operating expenses thereof were borne by the American Red Cross. This was done 
largely with the view of more or less controlling through the Y. M. C. A. Secretary by inference 
and suggestion the type of performances, that were to be given in this Gallerie. 

The Representative desires to place himself on record that the arrangement worked most sat- 
isfactorily, and it was at the suggestion of the Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. that weekly meet- 
ings were held in the office of the Representative at ten o'clock on Monday mornings, at which 
time the Staflfs of the Y. M. C. A. and of the American Red Cross were present, suggestions were 
listened to and a plan of entertainment in addition to the Cinema was laid out for the week. 

This arrangement continued in the Gallerie Morasque until the end of the lease on May 1, 
1918, when we were obliged to evacuate the premises in order that the Societe might take them 
over in preparation for their usual watering season, opening May 25th. 

On this date a mutual arrangement was made with the Societe to remove our Cinema ma- 
chine and entertainments to the Casino Theatre, owned and controlled by it, and commencing 
with that date the American Red Cross operated and controlled the Casino Theatre on Mondays, 
Wednesdays and Fridays, afternoons and evenings, during the balance of the summer season, 
and in fact as late as January 17th, 1919, at which time they were driven out by the cold. 

The Theatre proved a great additional attraction and was packed at every performance. 
The seating capacity was 640. The American Red Cross divided the expenses of operation of the 
Theatre with the Societe on the basis of three days for account of the American Red Cross and 
four days for account of the Societe; this expense amounting to only the cost of cleaning and 
electric light and power. No lease whatsoever was entered into with the Societe for the use of 
this beautiful house. The only final expense was the restoration of same after the cessation of 
occupancy by the American Red Cross in the way of repairs to seats, leather coverings, etc., and 
the cost of these repairs is in process of settlement at the date of this report and will amount to 
a comparatively small sum. 



Baths 

Returning to the month of March, 1918 : the next activity which seemed to the Representa- 
tive as absolutely essential for the upkeep of the morale of not only the Staff and personnel of 
the Bases but more particularly of the patients in the hospitals, was the providing of bathing 
facilities. 

The great hospitals composing these Bases contained an unusual scarcity of bathrooms, the 
reason being that the Societe, having two fine bathing establishments under the Galleries, preferred 
to concentrate their operating expenses on these bathing establishments, and thus more or less 
force their clientele to patronize them rather than use the baths in the hotel proper. 

This was all very well for a summer clientele, but was impracticable for great hospitals. 
The Representative decided to recommend to Paris Headquarters the leasing of the baths of the 
second class of the bathing establishments owned and operated by the Societe, for the purpose of 
providing the hospitals with these very necessary facilities. 

This establishment consisted of a semi-circle, two stories in height, and was particularly 
well adapted for the purposes for which we intended using it. The building was divided into two 
portions by a central hall. On the lower floor on each side of the central hall were located large 
shower bathrooms and four bathrooms on each side. On the upper floor, similarly divided, were 
thirteen very attractive, complete bathrooms on each side of the central hall. The lower floor was 
therefore assigned to convalescents and the enlisted personnel of the Bases. The right hand half 



of the upper floor, which was divided by the central hall, was devoted to officers, and the left 
hand half to the Nurses only. 

A lease was entered into between the Societe and the American Red Cross whereby, upon 
the payment of a very moderate rental for the establishment and the supplying by the American 
Red Cross of 1000 kilos of coal per day, the Societe was to furnish and deliver to the interior 
of the building the necessary supply of hot and cold water required. 

The question of interior operation of the building perplexed the Representative for some time 
for the reason that he early realized the inability of maintaining the necessary discipline of offi- 
cers and employees by the American Red Cross on the floors of this establishment. The Repre- 
sentative then conceived the idea, after securing the necessary leases from the Societe, of turn- 
ing the actual operation of the plant over to the Army authorities at these Bases and requesting 
them to furnish the Army personnel to operate the interior of the building and maintain its clean- 
liness; the main object being to place the attendant in charge in a position of authority in order 
that he could control the conduct of the convalescents and the enlisted men while in the baths. 

This arrangement was accepted by Col. Rukke, Commander of the Post, was put into effect 
at the opening of the baths on the 18th of April, 1918, and continued in effect to the time of 
closing the same on February 28, 1919. The results were more than satisfactory. The Societe 
claimed that we would never be able to pass more than 235 men through these baths on any day. 
Statistical records, carefully maintained in the bathing establishment, showed that in July, 1918, 
we handled as many as 389 men in one day, but this was only made possible by the very neces- 
sary disciplinary action on the part of the attendant in charge in keeping the men moving through 
the shower rooms. 

The records show that a total- of 50,818 baths were enjoyed during the period above men- 
tioned; and this could never have been accomplished unless some such arrangement had been 
put into effect. 

In October, while the establishment was running at its full capacity owing to the drives dur- 
ing that month, the question of the operation of the baths during the winter months presented it- 
self very forcibly to the mind of the Representative, and he, together with the engineer of the 
Societe, immediately commenced a study of the establishment with a view to ascertaining whether 
it were not possible to operate through the winter this establishment which was built for sum- 
mer use only. A method of protecting the outside piping was evolved and the plan was submit- 
ted to and received the approval of the Paris Headquarters. Construction was started imme- 
diately ; the piping was all enclosed ; stoves were installed on the different floors of the interior, 
with the result that the establishment ran through the winter months without the loss of a day 
and without fracture of the pipes until the night of February 14, 1919, when a particularly 
sharp snap caused a rupture of the two pipes on the exterior of the building. With this excep- 
tion the baths were perfectly comfortable during the winter season and were very much enjoyed 
by all. 

The Representative considers that even at the expense of operation of the establishment and 
the expense of restoration, it has been one of the greatest activities the American Red Cross could 
have undertaken for the benefit of those not only stationed at this Post but of those ordered here 
as patients by the military authorities. The medical staffs of both Bases frequently expressed 
their appreciation of the ability of the convalescents to avail themselves of these baths, and the 
effect they have had on the general health of the patients and of the community. 




Interior of Soldiers' Red Cross Hut. 



Mural Painting by Roy Gamble on Wall of Hut. 



Recreation Hut 

The next activity that seemed essential in preparation for the time when it would be impos- 
sible to further operate the Casino Theatre on account of cold weather, was the planning and erec- 
tion of a Recreation Hut for the use of enlisted men and convalescents. This building was plan- 
ned by the Representative particularly for the use of these large Bases. It was built of hollow 
tile on concrete foundations, plaster inside, with a high-trussed wooden roof, 175 feet in length 
and 27 feet in width ; it was decorated in attractive colors. There was a handsome painting in 
oil over the proscenium arch of the stage. Paintings in oils from life representing the charge of 
two United States soldiers at early dawn were very successfully produced by Private Gamble of 
Base Hospital 36, who also painted circular portraits of President Wilson and General Pershing 
which were placed on either side of the proscenium arch. 

The Hut consisted of a very large correspondence room with a properly installed stage at 
one end and at the other end a canteen counter. A billiard room and a green room were plan- 
ned behind the stage, and behind the counter were a kitchen, the office of the Directrice and a 
large store room. The Hut was lighted by electricity, with all the necessary stage foot Hghts and 
overhead lights, and over the twelve correspondence tables on the floor were hung low reading 
lights. 

It is not possible for the Representative to give the figures of the attendance at this Hut, 
which was opened on September 2nd, 1918, as it would have taken the entire time of one of his 
personnel to take care of the statistics. But suffice it to say that tens of thousands must have 
used it. 

The Hut was operated by the young ladies of the Recreation Hut Service, of which there 
were five but of which there should have been not less than eight, under the supervision of a Di- 
rectrice — Miss Edwine Michael, who served from September 2nd until December 1st, and was 
succeeded by Miss Jean A. Reid, who served from that date until February 17th. 

In this Hut, under the energetic administration of Lieutenant E. L. Belding, of Boston, who 
relieved the Representative who was on furlough in New York, there were given entertainments 
of all sorts, boxing and wrestling matches, a very active canteen was operated, and a particularly 
fine Christmas party organized, with a big tree on the stage, at which time there were donated by 
the American Red Cross Christmas stockings to the personnel and convalescents. 

This Hut was of the very best type of construction that could be obtained for this service, 
and was greatly appreciated and cared for by the men who used it. After the American Red 
Cross was driven out of the Theatre by reason of the cold, the Cinema apparatus was demounted 
and set up in the Hut in the cabin prepared for its reception, and Cinema performances were con- 
ducted there from January 17th to February 17th. 




Lxiciwr oj SoUlicrs' IIiil. 



A'urscs' Red Cross Hut. 



On Sunday evenings a short service was held in the Hut by the Chaplain. 

The Representative desires to call attention to the very unusual results achieved by both Di- 
rectrices of this Hut in the operation of their canteen service, and attached to this report will be 
found a report made to the Representative by the Directrice, Miss Reid, together with a letter 
of the Representative to the Chief of the Bureau of Hospital Representatives in Paris explain- 
ing the report, all of which is worthy of attention. All the details regarding this report are 
indicated in the letter of the Representative, and show distinctly that a canteen properly organ- 
ized, systematized and operated by the methods employed at this Hut, need not show a loss. The 
principal requirement is care in the handling of stock, taking your inventory and watching your 
cash. These three combined have produced the results achieved in this canteen. 



Nurses Club 

While the Recreation Hut was in progress of construction, and after a careful study of 
the situation of the large band of nurses at these Bases, it became clear to the Representative 
that some meeting place for the nurses of Base Hospitals 23 and 36 should be provided by the 
American Red Cross. There existed a room which had been set aside in one of the small hotels 
occupied by the nurses of Base Hospital 36 and which had been taken over by Miss Marion 
Porter, of the Y. W. C. A. as a reading room. But this room, being located in the building 
occupied by nurses of Base 36, therefore failed in its entire purpose, the nurses of Base 23 
always feeling some restraint about using the room. 

The Representative thereupon planned to build a Nurses' Club for the exclusive use of the 
nurses of Base Hospitals 23 and 36, which would furnish them with a neutral meeting place un- 
der the banner of the American Red Cross, and the present American Red Cross Nurses' Club 
at these Bases was thereupon built. 

Like the Recreation Hut, this building was built of hollow tile, on concrete foundations, 
plastered inside, and very nicely decorated in warm, homey colors. It was lighted throughout 
by electricity, and of course was supplied with running water. The building was 126 feet long 
and 27 feet wide inside, and consisted of a large living room 65 feet by 27 feet, which was fur- 
nished with comfortable wicker chairs, tables, the walls surrounded by low benches over which 
were hung at ten foot intervals reading lights. Surrounded by a fire bench was a very large 
open fireplace in which was maintained at all times a good fire, which added very greatly to the 
cheerfulness and hominess of this living room. 

In the rear of the living room was placed the office of the Directrice, Miss Marion Porter, of 
the Y. W. C. A., loaned to the American Red Cross by the Y. W. C. A. In the rear of the hv- 



ing room were also a kitchen, a bathroom, a rest room, a correspondence room in which were six 
individual desks, a workroom containing a large table with two electric irons for ironing, and 
two Singer machines. The whole building was attractively decorated and generally well fur- 
nished and as complete a small Club establishment as probably exists in France today for the 
purpose for which it was intended. 

Like the Recreation Hut, this Club was placed overlooking the baseball field leased by the 
American Red Cross for the use of the Units. It has been the outstanding success of the 
American Red Cross activities from a pleasure standpoint at this Post. From a humanitarian 
standpoint the baths, of course, stand first. 

Baseball Grounds 

As above mentioned, there was leased by the American Red Cross the horse-show ground of 
the Societe which was devoted to baseball, basketball and football. The Representative obtained 
permission from the Societe to lay out a diamond and strip the same, and in addition thereto he 
constructed high back stops and foul line wires about the diamond. This baseball diamond was 
considered an A-1 diamond by all those who played on it, and furnished a tremendous amount 
of interest and excitement during the season. 

Very excellent teams were organized and maintained by Base Hospitals 31 and 38 at Con- 
trexeville, and by Base Hospitals 23 and 36 at Vittel, and inter-unit matches were played all 
through the season, resulting finally in a terrifically hard-fought match won by the Base Hospital 
23 by the home run of the second baseman in the 10th inning. This sport furnished by the units 
was of the greatest benefit to the convalescents. The cost to the American Red Cross was insig- 
nificant. 

Tennis Courts 

The Societe owned six very fine dirt tennis courts located in the Park, and by arrangement 
with the Societe the Representative was enabled to have two of these courts set aside without 
charge for the benefit of the Stafif and personnel and convalescents at this Post. In return there- 
for the American Red Cross was to aid in the putting into shape all six courts and for that were 
to have the privilege of using the same when not in service by the clientele of the Societe dur- 
ing the summer months. These courts were tremendously used by everyone at the Post, and were 
highly maintained and in excellent order. 

Golf Course 

The Societe also owned and controlled a 9 hole golf course right between the steeplechase 
course and the Farm leased by the American Red Cross. The privileges of this golf course were 
extended to the Post under an arrangement made by the Representative with the Societe on 
the same basis of charge as that charged French officers who preceded Base Hospitals 23 and 
36 at this Post, i. e., one-fourth of the ordinary summer rate charged civilian clientele. 

American Red Cross Farm 

This farm of 110 acres located about one-half mile from the Park and owned by the So- 
ciete was leased to the American Red Cross to serve as a truck garden for the convalescents, the 
hope being that it would give them the opportunity of getting out on the land in the form of light 
duty at the farm. 

About 8 acres of the low lands of this farm were plowed, harrowed and placed in potatoes, 
carrots, beets and other heavy vegetables, and about 2 acres in truck garden. 

In addition to the above, the American Red Cross purchased a flock of 289 sheep belonging 
to the Societe, at a given price per kilo on the hoof taken in March, and the American Red Cross 
cared for these sheep, received all the increase and sold them in the fall to the local butcher and 
to the Mess Officers of the hospitals; the result of the deal showing a net profit of 31 '/I % on 
the cost of the flock. 



Insofar as the actual management and operation of this Farm, it was put in charge of 
Lieutenant E. L. Clarke in March, 1918, he being succeeded in August by Lieutenant H. O. Tan- 
ner, and Lieutenant Tanner being succeeded in September by Mrs. Ysobel Olivier, all of the Farm 
Service Bureau, Paris. 

The Representative is clear in that it did not accomplish exactly what was expected of it to 
do largely for the reason that it proved impracticable to secure for the farm at the given mo- 
ment needed the most, sufficient convalescent labor to carry on the work successfully on as large 
a scale as that laid out. For instance, at the time of planting in the spring, the number of con- 
valescents marked "light duty" was so small that the work would not be done on time and re- 
sults therefore were impeded by delay and the amount of vegetables produced was not sufficient. 
The Representative believes that the real truth in regard to the farm operation at these Bases 
is that the patients arriving here at Bases so near the front were not able, owing to their very 
severe injuries, to carry on work on a farm. He believes that at Bases further removed from the 
front, farm work of this nature could have been undertaken by patients who were re-evacuated 
to bases further from the front on account of their improved condition of health and strength. 
This is to me the only answer that I can evolve for the want of sufficient number of convalescents 
to produce the satisfactory results at this Farm. 

Barbershop 

The inability to meet the demand of patients for razors of all types and shaving soap pro- 
duced a situation that forced upon the Representative the necessity of providing ways and means 
for caring for patients and enhsted men along these lines, and with that in view, a small building, 
particularly well adapted as to situation and construction, was loaned to the American Red Cross 
by the President of the Societe, and^in this building was installed a complete barber shop; water 
was carried into the building, and it was fitted with electric fixtures. 

The building consisted of one floor. On the left was a waiting room and on the right the 
barber shop proper, containing three chairs at which three barbers were at work during the day. 
This became a very popular institution. The barbers were recruited from the Bases or convales- 
cents, the American Red Cross providing materials, towels, etc. 

The barber shop was under the charge of the Representative's assistant, Lieutenant Belding, 
who placed the building in the care of a top sergeant and he was in control at all times. This 
institution took care of as many as 75 men a day and probably ran an average of 40. 

Warehouse 

In conjunction with the operation of these American Red Cross activities, mention must be 
made of the tremendous amount of work done by the Staff and by convalescents in a small ware- 
house operated by the Representative in the town of Vittel. In this warehouse, formerly a gar- 
age, was erected long shelving with bins and a big table on which were made up thousands of 
comfort bags for distribution among the patients in the hospitals. Supplies were drawn from 
Zone Headquarters, Warehouse 11, Neufchateau, largely with our own transportation. Cases 
were opened and comfort bags made up from the contents thereof and delivered to the Chief 
Nurses of each hospital at the Post. These comfort bags were then distributed to each patient 
as he was admitted to the hospital. The bags contained the usual assortment of articles which 
had been adopted by the American Red Cross as standard when they were obtainable. 

There probably has been no activity that has been so tremendously appreciated by the 
patients as their comfort bags, and it is very regrettable that at the peak of our load here, the com- 
fort bags were not supplied to us in sufficient quantity to care for all the patients. The Repre- 
sentative was able to secure material, and had made here in Vittel many, many hundreds of bags 
with the Red Cross thereon for the purpose of fitting and distributing at this Post, but no- 
where near sufficient in quantity to cover all the needs. 



All supplies of tobacco were kept in this w arehouse, and a tobacco and cigarette distribu- 
tion was made to each patient in the hospital, at first on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week, 
and after July 1st on Fridays only. 

Requisitions 

As indicated in the foreword of this report, the capacity of the Units was increased from 500, 
their original number, to 2500. During that period of increase the American Red Cross Repre- 
sentative was called upon by the Commanding Officer to furnish large requisitions approved by 
the S. O. S. of materials of all types, surgical dressings, etc., in order to meet the increased offi- 
cial capacity for which these Units were supposed to stand. 

These requisitions, after the approval by the S. O. S., were forwarded to Paris Headquar- 
ters and were filled partly from there and partly from Warehouse No. 11 in the Eastern Zone. 
The amount of material supplied by the American Red Cross in fiUing these requisitions was, 
of course, very, very large, and this report will not be burdened with the details thereof. 

General Office Of The Representative 

As the work developed the Representative converted a store under the Galleries into an 
office for himself, his Lieutenant and secretary. It soon became evident, as the hospitals com- 
menced to fill, that an additional personnel in the form of Searchers, Home Service Worker, 
Lieutenants, etc., would be necessary, and that additional office quarters would be required. The 
store next to that occupied by the Representative was obtained, a door cut through, and turned 
into a working office, in which there were placed all the Searchers, Home Service Workers and 
one Lieutenant in charge of the Farm Service. 

This working office also contained shelving on which a stock of small articles was kept for per- 
sonal delivery to convalescents applying directly at the Red Cross office. This stock consisted prin- 
cipally of paper and envelopes, shaving brushes, shaving soap, razors when obtainable, talcum pow- 
der, tooth brushes and tooth paste, magazines, illustrated papers in large numbers, etc., etc. In 
this office were kept all the records of the Home Communication Service, and of the Home Serv- 
ice Section, and of these last two services nothing but praise can be said. 

The Representative acknowledges gratefully the high excellency of the Staff that was assigned 
to him here at this Post. This Staflf consisted at one time of twelve ladies, divided into the two 
services, and all the personnel were as busy as they could be during the peak of our load. What 
success and efficiency has been achieved at this Post is very largely due to them. For long periods 
they were under great pressure, and the Representative felt that owing to their hard work a 
proper and suitable housing should be given them, and with that end in view secured and leased 
a modern villa at the edge of the Park, in which were installed the entire Staff and in which they 
lived during the winter months. G. Hunter Brown, Major A. R. C. 

Headquarters Base Hospital No. 36, 
Captain G. Hunter Brown, A. R. C, American Expeditionary Forces, 

Vittel (Vosges). A. P. O. No. 732. 

Dear Captain Brown: February 15, 1919. 

It is with a sense of deep appreciation that I take this opportunity of thanking you on behalf 
of the officers, nurses and enlisted men of this organization for the co-operation and help of the 
American Red Cross. 

Your personal interest in the welfare of the patients and of the personnel of this organization 
merits the heartiest congratulations, and this will not be forgotten by Base Hospital 36. 

Everyone leaves Vittel with a good' spirit towards the American Red Cross, through you and 
your very efficient Staff. (Signed) Henry G. Berry, 

Major. M. C, Commanding. 




Miss Evadne Laptad 
American Red Cross. 

Hospital and Home Communication Service, American Red Cross, at Base 
Hospital No. Thirty-six 

On March 19, 1918, the American Red Cross began a development of its work at Vittel 
which was new not only there, but to all hospital centers of the A. E. F., and new in the history 
of war work, as just this sort of service had not been undertaken by any other of the warring 
nations. The plan was to provide through the work of American women in the hospitals a means 
of bridging over somewhat the distance between soldiers in hospital and their people at home ; 
to send out from the hospital news of the men being cared for there, to spare their families 
the suspense of waiting indefinitely for news after perhaps having seen the newspaper announce- 
ment of battle casualties ; to give the family of a man who died in hospital what information the 
censorship could permit of his last days and his place of burial; to learn from comrades in hos- 
pital whatever they might know of the fate of men reported killed or missing in action. Also, 
through the women enlisted in this service the comforts provided by the American people in the 
Red Cross were to be given to the sick and wounded. Organized, then, as the connecting link 
between the American people and the men in hospital, the service was called by a name appro- 
priate if long. Hospital and Home Communication Service, and the workers were known as Hos- 
pital Visitors and Searchers, "Searcher" being the name applied by the British to the men who 
secured information among their forces about men missing in action. 

At Vittel this, like all the other work of the Red Cross, was under the direction of Major 
G. Hunter Brown, Hospital Representative for Bases 36 and 23. Major Brown's suggestions, 
made at the request of the Paris office, had helped shape the plans for this new phase of Red 
Cross activity, and one of the first group of workers sent out from Paris was assigned to his 



station. Whatever success the service achieved at Vittel was due primarily to his wise guidance. 
Before the coming of the first Hospital Visitor, Major Brown had outlined to the Commanding 
Officer and the Chief Nurse the purpose of the work. The worker was received most graciously 
by Colonel Phillips, Mrs. Harris, and the hospital personnel. The nurses, having always the 
welfare of their patients most closely at heart, were particularly interested. They themselves 
would gladly have rendered to the men all the varied services they needed while they were in 
hospital, if only the task of giving the essential nursing care had not demanded all their effort, 
and they welcomed an additional person to make common cause with them in looking after the 
men's personal needs. 

Even at the middle of March, Base 36 was caring for enough American patients so that 
the Hospital Visitor found her time fully occupied, and as the days went by, the opportunities 
for service multiplied with the increasing number of patients, and with the natural growth of 
the work to fit the situation. One very important need of the men which manifested itself early 
was due to their anxiety for their families because of unpaid allotments or other difficulties, and 
it was the duty of the Visitor to get the data necessary for investigating the non-payment of the 
allotment, and for enabling the Red Cross Chapter in the man's home locality to look after his 
family. The words, — "and somebody in your Red Cross Chapter at home will go to see your 
wife and make sure that she has everything she needs," brought a visible relief to the man's 
anxiety that gave proof of his confidence in the Red Cross. 

With the increasing need, the number of Hospital Visitors stationed at Vittel increased also, 
though not in corresponding proportion, so that there was always a realization of more work to do 
than there were people to do it. About two months after the first Visitor's arrival. Miss Thomas 
came out from Paris to divide her time between secretarial work for Major Brown, and the 
work in the wards. A little later. Miss Chandlee came. For the first five months, during the time 
the service was being organized and the methods worked out, there were only three Visitors. 
Then Miss Michael came at the end of July, and Miss McGee and Miss Hileman in September. 
When Miss Thomas withdrew ; Miss Busey came on later in the autumn. During the ten 
months of this service, these members of the Hospital and Home Communication Service, listed 
in the order of their coming, were stationed at Vittel, and divided their time between the two 
Base Hospitals there : 

Evadne M. Laptad Madeline Thomas 

Helen M. Chandlee Clara Michael 

Eleanor McGee Grace J. Hileman 

Garetta Busey 
The largest number of workers at any one time was five, one of whom had secretarial duties 
also. 

Early in the summer, Major Brown added to the Red Cross office down in the Park an ad- 
joining room, on the door of which was lettered "Home Communication Service." Here, be- 
hind the plate glass which formed the front of the room, were the shelves holding our special 
supplies, our library, our records and files, and besides the necessary ofifice furniture, some com- 
fortable chairs. Here the "walking patients" came for books from the library, or -for any of the 
things that were on the shelves; they came to give information about missing comrades, or to 
tell us their Home Service needs. They came on errands for the nurses, or for their buddies who 
were not able to leave the ward. Often they appeared, towels over their arms, to get a cake of 
soap on the way to the ever-popular Red Cross baths near by. When they were being dis- 
charged from hospital to go, as some of them did, direct to their "outfits,'' they came to be sup- 
plied with everything we had, from housewives to Testaments, that a soldier wants in the lines. 
From this office went magazines and stationery and sweet chocolate and fruit and a myriad other 
things carried to the hospital wards by the Visitors, aided by an ofifice boy provided by Major 
Brown's thoughtfulness to lighten such labors. Here were written the telegrams and cables and 
letters and reports that were necessary in ever- increasing numbers as the hospitals were filled to 



capacity with the tragic aftermath of Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry and Saint Mihiel. 

Supplies from Paris, renewed with amazing regularity and generosity considering the 
transportation difficulties, aiiforded such things as comfort-bags — was ever anything more worthy 
of its name than the comfort-bag of blessed memory? — and toilet articles, chewing gum, choco- 
late, and cigarettes; these supplies were supplemented, through a revolving fund arranged by 
, Major Brown, with fresh fruits, soups for "special diet" cases, ice-cream sometimes — what a 
miracle ice-cream seemed to the typhoid patients in the Hotel du Pare! The revolving fund paid 
for the making of comfort-bags by women of the village when even our generous supplies from 
Paris could not keep up with the needs of the crowded wards ; it provided flowers for the wards 
and for the burial services of men who died ; it paid, too, for nightcaps for patients who, in an 
overcrowded building, were lying on cots in draughty halls, and for the sharpening of dulled sur- 
gical instruments in some of the operating rooms. 

As time went on, the task of writing a letter from the hospital for each man who was in 
serious condition, or who, even if not seriously wounded, could not write for himself, became so 
great that, instead, a report giving each man's condition and, if possible, a brief message to his 
family, was sent in to the Paris office, where a letter embodying this information was written to 
each man's next of kin. This meant for us a great extension of our service, as such reports could 
be made concerning a hundred men in the time it would have taken to write twenty letters. Sur- 
geons and nurses, recognizing the significance of these reports to the people at home, helped us 
by giving all the information possible about the men's condition. Letters were always written 
from the hospital, however great the pressure of work, to the families of men who died, and 
with the lessened censorship after the Armistice, it was possible to render one further service 
to these families through a letter telling them of the exact location of the cemetery where the 
men were buried, and of the memorial services that had been held there both by the French and 
the Americans. 

No complete picture can be given of work so varied as this was, but the Hospital and 
Home Communication Service kept pace as best it could with events in the history of Base 
Hospital 36 from March to January, and the increasing burden borne by the hospital through 
the summer and fall reflects itself in such items, from the Visitors' reports to Paris, as, under 
"Supplies distribufed," — "Comfort-bags. 5000," and "Reports on wounded and gassed, 1,579." 
The memory of a Hospital Visitor is filled with recollections such as that of the Marines who 
came in early, almost a whole Company of them, all gassed ; of the Tommies who thronged one 
whole hospital building after Soissons ; of the hundreds and hundreds of doughboys who came in 
from the Argonne; of the trainload of captured American wounded sent down by the Germans 
after the Armistice from their hospital at Trier. It holds kaleidoscopic pictures of scenes in the 
wards, where utmost effort and skill were being brought to bear by surgeons and nurses, and 
where wounded soldiers laughed and joked and did little kindnesses to those worse off than they, 
and of the hospital offices where the Sergeants kept the hospital machinery running, and were 
never too busy to give any information or help than a Visitor needed. Pictures too, of the 
little Chapel, and of the cemetery on the hill-top, where Doctor Maxon read the service for the 
dead. Of nurses "off duty," making cake or candy or something else that would cheer their 
patients like a glimpse of home; of the gay little Christmas trees in the wards, and of the re- 
turned American prisoners forgetting, in that atmosphere, their weeks in the German hospital. 

Having to do with war, these memories have, most of them, more than a hint of tragedy, 
but they have the kindliness and bravery and devotion that redeem even tragedy. We who were 
Hospital Visitors cherish these memories. We are grateful to Base Hospital 36 for its unfailing 
kindness and consideration toward us; we are glad that we were associated even in small degree 
with the work of the Unit at Vittel, and we wish to pay the tribute of our admiration for its 
achievements. 

EVADNE M. LAPTAD. 




Cakl E. Schmidt 

WHEN the war broke out the stupendous problem of the American Red Cross fairly 
staggered the imagination. Never in the history of mankind had humanitarianism, 
hospital organization, and the surgical care of the disabled, had a greater task or test to fill this 
immediate demand. 

The man who stepped forward and paid $35,000 to organize, establish and equip a 
Base Hospital, who had already as Governor Pingree's right hand man and advisor, done 
much for the prosperity and development of the city, was the man of the hour, Carl E. 
Schmidt. 

While other hospitals were handicapped financially in the prompt purchase of equip- 
ment, Base Hospital 36, throug'h the generosity of Mr. Carl Schmidt alone, was able to 
enter the market early and quickly complete the buying of supplies and equipment that 
made it possible to develop and take overseas the first one thousand bed hospital that had 
ever left American shores. 

Mr. Schmidt deserves the thanks of many a disabled soldier in grateful recognition 
of the handsome service he rendered to the Red Cross and humanity. It is difficult to meas- 
ure the untold extent to which his generosity extended to hospitals may have reached. 
The gift of Mr. Schmidt made possible the early organization and transportation of one of 
the best equipped Base Hospitals in France. Without Mr. Schmidt or an equal generosity, 
the great work of caring for 15,000 sick and wounded with a mortality of 1-10 of 1% could 
not have been. 

Those who received the blessings of gentle care, good food, kindness, skill and the 
watchful guidance of nurse and surgeon, can never appreciate that without the inspira- 
tion and generosity of Mr. Schmidt the organization of this hospital would have been 
impossible. 

Burt R. Shurly. 




Alexander Ixgersol Lewis. 



What the Red Cross Did for Base Hospital No. 36 In the Great War 



With the sanction of Mr. Gustavus D. Pope, Chairman of the Detroit Chapter, in April, 
1917, the Detroit Chapter, American Red Cross, was authorized to equip Base Hospital 
No. 36. Mr. A. IngersoU Lewis was appointed purchasing agent. 

At a meeting of the Executive Committee held August 29th, 1919, it was resolved to 
appropriate $1,000.00 for the use of B. H. No 36, this money to be expended at the discre- 
tion of the Commanding Officer, in buying needful comforts for the patients. This was 
done at the request of Mr. A. Ingersol Lewis. From the inception of the Unit until its 
demobilization, Mr. Lewis had the Unit ever in mind. He worked with untiring zeal and 
energy and it was largely due to his efficient efforts that Base Hospital No. 36 was one 
of the best equipped Units sent overseas by the United States. Mr. Lewis purchased for 
the Unit one Paige touring car, three Indian motorcycles with side cars, six bathtubs, a 
telephone system for communication between buildings, extra dentists' tools and supplies, 
additional X-Ray machines and plates, kitchen ranges and ice boxes. 

Mr. Lewis' work in the organization of the Unit was of the greatest importance. He 
was extremely anxious to go overseas and every possible effort was made to have his ap- 
pointment as Captain and Quartermaster in the Reserve Corps confirmed. Major Shurly 
took the matter up with the President personally, but the War Department decided that 
only regular Army men could be sent in that capacity. His work was well done with 
extraordinary energy and zeal at a time when it was indeed difficult to buy. The Unit 
was equipped as no other in France. IngersoU Lewis deserved the credit and the memory 




Mrs. W. H. Burtenshaw. 



Mrs. Henry B. Joy. 



of his work, his loyalty, and his business ability should survive in the memory of all. By 
his success may be measured to a great extent the comfort of the command and the suc- 
cess of the care and treatment of the sick and wounded. This recognition of deeds well 
performed can only be spoken in mere words, the records and the results speak for them- 
selves. 

Mrs. Henry B. Joy, Chaiiman, and Mrs. William H. Burtenshaw, Vice Chairman, of 
the Hospital Garments Surgical Supplies, and Comfort Bag Committee (afterwards known 
as the Purchasing Committee), were instructed to purchase materials and equipment spec- 
ified in A. R. C. Bulletin No. 164. 

This seemed like a large order for the equipment, for Base Hospital No. 17 was not 
yet completed, the market was depleted. There was a great scarcity of materials of all 
kinds, shipments were exceedingly slow, and also it was difficult to get volunteer workers 
and sewers. The United States had but just entered the war and our boys were not yet 
actively engaged, so the personal element and interest did not enter into it. Six months 
later, with many of our boys in service, workers by the hundreds were available, but by 
that time Base Hospital No. 36 was doing its own work for our sons and husbands behind 
the firing line. 

One day, a Red Cross official enquired of a member of the Purchasing Committee, 
"Who supplies the money for the Base Hospitals? Does it come from Washington?" He 

received the reply, "Oh, Mr. , as yet no one knows. We are much too busy spending 

the money to bother about where it is coming from." 

We frequently had nervous prostration calls, such as "36 is ordered to sail in three 
days," "36 is leaving in a week," etc. The greatest secrecy was, of course, preserved re- 




Mrs. E, D. Stair 



Mrs. James T. Shaw. 



garding the date of the Unit's saihng. The Packing Committee worked day and night, 
their only reward for aching backs being the sight of those hundreds of neat boxes packed 
and labeled for- overseas. 

But in spite of our handicaps, our ignorance and our inexperience, we tried to "carry 
on" that the Unit might not sail without the equipment. 

Newberry House, 483 Jefferson Avenue, had been generously donated by the Newberry 
Estate as Headquarters for all Chapter work. Here and in workrooms connected with it 
(at this time numbering 101) were prepared supplies for Base Hospital No. 36 at a total 
cost of $10,923.53. The Chapter agreed to furnish material to all societies, clubs, and 
churches doing Red Cross work. The Club of Doctors' Wives and several others supplied 
their own material. Splendid assistance was given by the following cities in the state : 
Adrian, Alma College, Alma, Ann Arbor, Bay City, Bellevue, Island Lake, Orion, Centre- 
ville, Elberta, Grand Rapids, Harbor Beach, Hillsdale, Howell, Harrisville, Ironwood, Iron 
River, Jonesville, Lyons, Mayville, Manistee, Mackinaw City, Plymouth, Point Aux Barques, 
Rogers, Richmond, Saginaw, Traverse City, Williamsburg, West Branch, Wayne and 
Wyandotte. 

Shipments of cut garments were sent out from Newberry House to the above named 
cities, and the garments were made up and returned by them. 

At this time, with the scarcity of help of all kinds, perhaps our most valuable assist- 
ance was George Smith, colored waiter, who was loaned by the University Club. Smith's 



duties comprised every kind of work from carpenter to caterer, and the vigor and cheerful- 
ness with which he nailed up boxes from morning until night was, I am sure, indicative 
of the way in which he afterwards fought at the front. 

In the summer of 1917, Mrs. James T. Shaw was appointed Second Vice Chairman of 
Newberry House and did invaluable work in our office with the Press (the Chapter offices 
were not organized on a war basis at the time) and in the equipment of Base Hospitals. 
Miss Kathleen O'Donnell was engaged as Secretary at Newberry House. Mrs. Charles G. 
White was placed in charge of the sewing department, which was also a distributing cen- 
ter. Mrs. Wilcox, Mrs. Wright, and the Misses Wright were in charge of the cutting and 
assembling of hospital garments. Mrs. Truman H. Newberry was appointed Chairman of 
the Packing and Shipping Committee, with Mrs. Kathleen Eddy Mundy, Mrs. William V. 
Moore, and Mrs. William V. Moore, Jr. Later, upon Mrs. Newberry's resignation, Mrs. 
Mundy was made Chairman of the Committee. Miss Kate Traver was in charge of the 
Receiving Department for the Base Hospital work. Miss Mildred Kempf was Chairman 
of the Information Bureau, Miss Ella Joy, of the Switchboard Committee. Mrs. Elspeth 
Vaughn, Mrs. Charles Tower, Mrs. E. R. Breitenbacher were in charge of Surgical Dress- 
ings, which were prepared to the value of $1,306.77. 

Other supplies were 796 5/6 dozen sheets, 237 dozen pillow slips, 470 dozen towels, 100 
table cloths, 230 dozen table napkins, 1,040 dozen tray cloths, 91 J4 dozen pajamas, 140 dozen 
hospital bed shirts, 525 bathrobes, 120 dozen pairs of socks, 84 dozen operating gowns, 
233J^ dozen handkerchiefs, 11 dozen operating caps, 43;^ dozen pairs ward slippers, 20 
dozen shoulder wraps, and many small articles in great quantities. 

Every assistance was given the Purchasing Committee by various business firms of 
the city and by the First and Old Detroit National Bank, the J. L. Hudson Company placed 
its purchasing department at our disposal, the Edson Moore Company gave the valuable 
services of their experienced buyer, Mr. James F. McKnight, the Princess Manufacturing 
Corhpany made our buttonholes, the Police Department furnished watchmen both day and 
night, for the city was full of spies and German sympathizers eager to pick up bits of 
news and information. The utmost care was exercised in the supervision and guarding 
of the surgical dressings, but in spite of our utmost caution, one lot of dressings was tam- 
pered with. Fortunately it was discovered in time and resulted in the burning of all the 
drains and sponges in the box. We also found glass in one lot of uncut gauze. "C'est la 
Guerre." 

In September, 1917, having fulfilled its responsibilities for the organization, equipment, 
maintenance, and pliblicity of the Unit, which was now ready for work, the Detroit Chap- 
ter turned it over to the War Department. 

On the departure of the nurses, the Chapter made an allowance to each of $100.00, 
to help pay for personal equipment, realizing that the nurses who were volunteering for 
war work would meet many unusual expenses in leaving their homes. 

In November, 1917, we shipped Christmas packages and comfort bags to the Unit. We 
learned with great regret that they only arrived in time for Easter. 

One summer afternoon, the writer had the good fortune to visit the Unit when it was 
in camp at the State Fair Grounds and received an unforgettable impression. Everywhere 
such systematic, calm readiness in both soul and body, such eager waiting for the word 
"go," such thoughtful tenderness for the mothers, wives, sweethearts, visiting them, per- 
haps for the last time, for well we all knew that when the call should come they would, 
like the Arabs, "fold their tents and as silently steal away." 





Group of Convalescents, Soldiers and Nurses 



Group of Con'oalescents 




Floral Piece Presented to Major Barrett by the French 

People. Xmas Boxes Ready for Shipment to B. H. 36, A. E. F. 

My last impression of Base Hospital Unit No. 36 was a benediction, for Dr. Maxon 
stood in the door of his tent in the radiant sunset. In his hand was a miniature communion 
service beautifully wrought in Old English silver. He had just been showing us this pre- 
cious gift to his Chaplain equipment, and it seemed symbolical of the strong purpose in the 
hearts of our American soldiers — "This do in remembrance of Me." 

Anne K. Burtenshaw. 




Camp at hair Grounds, Detroit. 



Camp, Another Vie-w. 



August 15th, 1917. 
Red Cross Committee 

Albert B. Lowrie, Chairman 
Fred E. Gregory Arthur W. Kilpatrick 

William Riddell Frederic W. Dennis 

Major Burt R. Shurly, 
Base Hospital Unit No. 36, 
American Expeditionary Forces. 
My Dear Sir: 

We beg to advise you that in addition to the equipment provided for by Detroit Commandery 
No. 1 for your Unit, the sum of $3,561.84 has been set aside for the purpose of providing such 
additional equipment for Base Hospital Unit No. 36 as may be found necessary, and which is 
not provided for by the United States Government. We understood from a recent conversation 
with you that a number of special instruments will be needed at once, and you are at liberty 
to draw on this Committee for any sum up to the amount specified. Should this amount not be 
sufficient to provide for your needs, we shall be very glad to have you advise us regarding 
further equipment found necessary, and we have no doubt that Detroit Commandery will raise 
funds accordingly. 

We note in this morning's paper that your Unit is about to mobilize, and before leaving 
we would be pleased to have you confer with some member of the Committee, and any sugges- 
tions as to how Detroit Commandery may render your Unit assistance will be gladly received. 

Very truly yours, 

Arthur W. Kilpatrick, 
Secretary Red Cross Committee, 
Detroit Commandry No. 1, Knights Templar. 
Chicago, III, Aug. 21, 1917. 

How the Nurses Were Equipped 

One of the most interesting and important efforts of the war on the "home front" was 
that made by a band of devoted Detroit women to equip properly the nurses who went 
from Detroit to France, and later, as part of a national campaign, to force through Con- 
gress the bill granting military rank for nurses. 

In the summer of 1917, when The Campfire Girls of the First Presbyterian Church 
were asked by Mrs. Bethune Duffield to prepare comfort bags for the soldiers, one of the 
girls said to Mrs. Robert Beattie, head of the organization : 

"But why not, instead, do something for the four hundred or more nurses who are 
being sent away with inadequate equipment, their personal friends alone paying any atten- 
tion to them?" 

The campfire girl suggested that Mrs. Beattie constitute herself a committee of one 
to look into the matter. 

Mrs. Beattie interviewed Dr. Angus Maclean and Dr. Burt Shurly, who referred her 
to Mrs. Harris, head of the Shurly unit, and Miss McLaughlin, head of Harper unit. Both 
confirmed the statement made to the campfire girls as to the scant equipment of the nurses. 
The next step was to see Dr. Joseph Vance, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, who 
asked Mrs. Beattie to bring the matter before the women of the congregation. Mrs. Har- 
ris accompanied Mrs. Beattie to a meeting and explained conditions thoroughly, where- 
upon there was appointed a committee of prominent women to take instant action. This 
committee, known as The Nurses' Aid Committee, consisted of: 



Mrs. Robert Beattie, chairman, Mrs. A. V. Lind, Mrs. Henry Kanter, Mrs. A. C. Wood- 
bridge, Mrs. Raymond B. Hoobler, Miss Sylvia Allen, Mrs. Henry Jeffrey, Mrs. A. R. 
Kerr, Mrs. A. P. Williams, Mrs. Geo. Johnston, Miss F. Uttley, Mrs. Paul Moody, Mrs. 
Forman, Mr.s John Mabley, Mrs. Oviatte. 

The chairman submitted to Mrs. Harris several specimens of bags, and one of khaki, 
vv^ith red cross, was chosen. The chairman furnished the material and the members of the 
committee made the bags and crosses, 422 in all. Then the committee raised by special 
canvass funds to fill the bags with the necessary articles of personal use and equipment, 
the understanding being that every woman who filled a bag should mark it with her name 
and become the adopted mother and correspondent of the recipient. 

In connection with this part of the work much praise is due to Mrs. Lind, vice-chair- 
man of the committee, whose efforts were untiring; to Mrs. R. P. Williams, president of 
the Protestant Orphan Asylum, who enlisted the sympathy of Mrs. Horace Dodge and 
other prominent women by whom many bags were filled ; to Mrs. Kerr, who interested Mrs. 
John Dodge. The thanks of the committee are also due to Mrs. Henry Kanter, who placed 
in every bag a New Testament with the verse, "Not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
ister," marked. Mrs. Geo. Johnston also performed greatly appreciated services. 

An interesting affair took place at the Children's Hospital when the full committee was 
presented by Mrs. Harris to the nurses of her own hospital and the first batch of bags was 
distributed. Each member of the committee took part in the presentation, which was ac- 
companied by appropriate speeches. Other bags were presented when the nurses left the 
city and every effort was made not to allow a single one to leave without a personal 
presentation. To provide for cases where departure was hurried, bags were taken to the 
Nurses' Home, Warren and Brush, where they were given to those called suddenly to the 
front. The bags for Harper Hospital unit, which left before the effort was launched, were 
taken overseas by a friend and posted to the nurses from London. Money was forwarded 
to Miss McLaughlin for filling the bags or for any other purpose she might deem fit. 

Springing out of the visit of Mrs. Harris to the First Presbyterian Church, Mrs. 
Hoobler and Mrs. Sibley offered to equip completely two of the nurses for service. The 
committee urged that efforts be made to induce the Red Cross to make a grant to the 
nurses. Great assistance was rendered in this respect by Mrs. Harris, T. C. Greenwood, 
of The Journal, Byres Gitchell, sec'y of the Board of Commerce, and Mrs. Russell Alger, 
whose interest was excited by Mrs. Harris. These influences, combined with others, induced 
the Red Cross to give each departing nurse $100, with the possible exception of some of 
the Harper nurses, who left before the committee was organized. Before Shurly unit left, 
the committee saw that money was placed with Mrs. Harris for small necessities of the 
nurses and herself. 

In addition the committee obtained the aid of all the Presbyterian churches in the city 
and numerous personal friends to purchase sweaters for the nurses, who, in their first let- 
ters from France, complained of the intense cold. In a short time every overseas nurse 
from Detroit received a sweater of the warmest kind. At Christmas a sum of money was 
sent to Mrs. Harris for the use of the nurses and herself. 

Arrival of the nurses in France led naturally and inevitably to the second branch of 
the campaign in which the same group of public-spirited Detroit women took part, to- 
gether with many others throughout the republic. Letters soon began to arrive from the 
war zone telling how the nurses had discovered that their work was being often nullified 
through lack of authority. They were neither officers nor privates, and were unable to 
secure that quick performance of requests by hospital orderlies upon which the lives of 
the wounded frequently depended. 

Mrs. Beattie. 




Red Cross Workroom. 



Christmas Boxes — 1917 

For the first Christmas season after the entry of the United States into the war, the 
women of the Detroit Chapter of the American Red Cross put in more than two weeks of 
tremendous work preparing Christmas packages for American men in service. Of these 
Base Hospital 36 received twenty-four cases. 

With headquarters in the Recreation Building, 147 Shelby Street, where the use of two 
large stores on the ground floor was given by the Sweeney-Huston Company, a regular 
"factory system," if such it might be called, was instituted for efficiency. Long tables, 
upon which articles for the boxes were heaped, filled the room. As each article was put 
in, the box was passed on to another worker until filled. It was then sent into an adjoin- 
ing room to be stamped, wrapped and directed and packed into larger cartons and boxes 
for shipment. From 8 :30 in the morning until 11 at night many of the workers were busy. 
Every article which would appeal to the so'diers, including our doctors and nurses, was 
purchased ; from playing cards and cribbage boards to fountain pens and writing paper, 
shaving soap, handkerchiefs, scissors, malted milk, shoe strings, candy and tobacco. With 
each went a Christmas card bearing good wishes from the individual donor or from the 
chapter and on each package was stamped the name of the Detroit Chapter A. R. C. 

The officers in charge were Mrs. E. D. Stair, Chairman, Mrs. Alanson S. Brooks, Vice- 
chairman, Mrs. James T. Shaw, Chairman of the Publicity Committee with many others 
on the list as workgrs. Any other Christmas gifts we or our friends wished to send to in- 
dividuals were carefully wrapped and put in one of the 24 cases. 

We were all so happy in the work and confident that our husbands and friends would 
receive for Christmas the packages packed with such care and thought ; but alas ! on arriv- 
ing in France the cars containing the boxes were needed for troops and our precious cases 
were left on a siding delayed until April, so Christmas and Easter presents arrived simul- 
taneously! A little late, but none the less appreciated. I still have letters so full of en- 
thusiasm from Chaplain Maxon, Colonel Phillips, Miss Cooper, Mrs. Harris and other doc- 
tors and nurses. One of the nurses of the unit wrote home : "I want to tell you how much 
everyone appreciates all you home people have done for us. I feel that we are indeed for- 
tunate to have these gifts come through and am sure the Red Cross has done all possible 
to get them to us. I really marvel we have been allowed so much shipping space. You 
people must be going hungry to give us all these luxuries, and I can assure you we who 
are so comfortable here will see that some of it goes to our dear men who are coming back 
to us as well as those who are 'going out'." 



In addition to the gifts from the A. R. C. described above, the Doctors' "Wives Red 
Cross Unit which met during the war at the Wayne County Medical Building also pro- 
vided Christmas gifts for each doctor and nurse in the unit. Included among these presents 
was an immense fruit cake baked and contributed by Mrs. George E. Potter. A similar 
gift was sent to the Harper Unit. The officers of this organization were : President, Mrs. 
John Bell; Secretary, Mrs. T. P. Camelon; Treasurer, Mrs. H. Wellington Yates; Execu- 
tive Officer, Mrs. J. H. MacMillan. When the boxes were ready they were sent to the A. 
R. C. headquarters at Shelby Street and shipped with the other cases. 

When the shadow of war was over our country, in our hearts a Merry Christmas was 
hardly possible, nor could we anticipate an entirely Happy New Year. We knew the vic- 
tory and peace we desired could not be obtained without struggle and sacrifice. We en- 
tered the war with complacent self assurance and enthusiasm, qualities that had to be re- 
placed with grim determination. Co-operation and co-ordination were the ends toward 
which we had to strive, and working together heart and soul for those over there was at 
once our inspiration and salvation. 

Esther Longyeae McGraw. 




State Fair Grounds. 



AN EPISODE OF THE LATE WAR 
In Two Parts 

Entitled 
WAS IT THE DUC DE ROHAN ? 

Dedicated 

To 

George Sackrider 

(My Old Side-Kick) 

By 

George E. Fay 

1922 

Part One 
AT THE FRONT 

Life with the A. E. F. in France gave to almost every American soldier, numerous personal 
experiences of one sort or another, the sum total of which cloaks his memory in that indefinable 
fabric of romance, which, if he possess imagination, will accompany him always and fill his days 
with interest to the end. 

Dreams — hazy impressions — vague recollections — inspired perhaps by the damp of melting 
snow — by the fragrant odor of a cigarette in the cool, crisp air, or perchance the soft scraping 
of a match-box — presto, you see your old comrade, George, once more seeking the solace of a 
puff or two in the shadowy dimness of your tent, after the passage of the German Bomber, and 
life seems good even there in the mud along the Cambrai — St. Quentin canal. 

Yes, we were there — George and I — just another team doing surgery with the British in 
January, '18— for the time being attached to their Army. 

We had worked hard for some days among John Bull's good fellows and I recall were reluct- 
ant to leave — but orders came to move, and at mess that noon the C. O. gave us a half-day off 
to look about a twice fought battle-field. 

The little Padre spoke up : "I say, have you fellows been to Manancourt ? It's interest- 
ing — what's left — you should see the cemetery." So we did. 

After visiting the Aerodrome and knocking about the old trenches for some miles, miles of 
dirt, barbed wire, the cast off ordnance of war and flocks of crows, we came out upon the road 
that wound its way through slush and mud, through the ruined town of Manancourt, and 
brought up at the narrow lane that led within the cemetery walls. Ancient walls of brick — 
once stone-capped, but no more, for Fritz had cleverly carved these slabs to mark the graves of 
one-hundred-and-fifty of his dead lying silently there. Were they the first? Who knows? 

In the middle of the enclosure stood an old brick mausoleum of large dimensions with cracked 
walls and gapping doors. Five or six stone steps strewn with brick and mortar leading up be- 
tween two large stone pillars, somewhat out of plomb and under the cracked stone lintel, all gave 
emphasis to an admonitory sign upon the wall :— "DANGEREUX, DEFENSE D'ENTRER" 
(Dangerous, forbidden to enter). 

We entered but within the doorway found the greater part of the main floor fallen through 
and lying in the cellar below, a pile of debris lighted softly through a yawning shell-hole in the 
roof which told the tale. 

As eyes became accustomed to the light, one could descry dark crypts opening in the cellar- 
walls and could discern a casket on the summit of the pile below, — dragged from some crypt and 
opened part way down disclosing the black and leathery countenance of a silent occupant face up- 
ward toward the sky. Who could it have been, we wondered. 



Set into the wall on our level and to the right were two marble tablets which could be reached 
by hugging close and walking upon the remaining narrow ledge of the old tile floor. 

I looked and read on one: "Ci git Henri, le Due de Rohan, Ne 1579, Decede 1638." The 
other was erected to La Duchess de Rohan with dates of birth and death. 

Could this then be the last remains of the historic Duke of Rohan? We departed wondering. 

Part Two 
AT NANTES 

Over a year trailed away with its varigated war experiences. The Armistice had long since 
been signed. The colonels and some of the ranking majors, and some few others from our unit, 
had variously left for home, and the bulk of our outfit was moved into Brittany not far from 
the old historic walled city of Nantes, with its feudal castle of origin centuries old, with its mu- 
seum, its art galleries and miriads of interesting things ; not a half-bad place to await our em- 
barkation orders. 

One day while nosing about the Musee Dobree (that's the museum in Nantes), the old cura- 
tor had shown me many things of interest in the way of ancient coins, medieval armor, fighting 
implements, paintings, tapestries and ceramic art-treasures, dating from Caesar's day on down, 
and we were just starting to ascend the stairway when my eye was caught by an interesting old 
French print on the wall depicting a court-yard scene of days gone by. 

In this picture an old-fashionpd stage-coach had entered by an arched gate-way in the back- 
ground and the four champing horses restlessly pranced while a number of gaily dressed ladies 
(recent occupants of the coach), gossiped near-by amidst bright colored ribbons, plumes and flar- 
ing petticoats much to the interest of the inhabiidnts who scrutinized them from the windows of 
the surrounding dwellings. 

In the foreground stood a knot of gentlemen, also in costume of the time, with broad plumed 
chapeaux, ample capes, cocked up rapiers and high-heeled boots with crenelated tops. Some were 
bowing profoundly with wide sweep of hat. D'Artagnan might have been there with the other 
immortal Three. 

The picture was entitled, "Le Rencontre entre, Louis XIII et Le Due de Rohan." (The meet- 
ing between Louis XIII and the Duke of Rohan). 

I looked sharply at the good old curator and exclaimed joyfully, "Ah ha ! My friend The 
Duke of Rohan!" 

"O non!" said he, II n'est pas votre ami." 

"Mais oui!" said I, "He is too my friend, I've met him here in France." 
"It seems not possible," persisted the curator. Ce n'est pas la verite." 
"But yes !" I argued and with great emphasis, "I know that man." 
"No-no-no-no ! Pas vrai, parce qu'il est mart." 

"Mort !' Dead ! Why yes, certainly he's dead. He was also dead when I met him." 
Thereupon I proceeded to relate to the amazed curator the details of this narrative as given 
in PART ONE, withholding only the name of the town in which the cemetery lay. 

"Oui! Oui, Yes, indeed," he admitted, "It was The Duke of Rohan whom you saw and at 
the town of Manancourt, N'est-ce-pas? for he was buried there." 

So we need wonder no more, old friend, George. Au revoir. Cheerio! 



FOR MISCELLANEOUS CHAPTER 
B. H. 36 HISTORY 

From time to time interesting excerpts from Dr. Shurly's letters to Mrs. E. D. Stair, chair- 
man of the Press Committee for Detroit Chapter, American Red Cross, were published in the News 
Letter, the official organ for Detroit Chapter. 

Appearing in the sixth number of the Bulletin, June 1, 1918, was the following "by Major 
Burt R. Shurly, Commanding Base Hospital No. 36, Somewhere in France :" 

"Don't take stock in all the dour utterances of fine gloom artists and camouflage workers 
you hear sometimes in Detroit. Would that ^sop and Grimm lived in these days to shake hands 
with brother birds whose feathers are of the same variety, kind, color, and shape. 

"Of course we get lonesome. Of course we get homesick. Of course some develop a pessi- 
mistic atmosphere, but as true as there is a God in Heaven, so sure will the savage be stayed in 
this country and the glorious victory will be ours. 

"Be that as it may, this old Unit, No. 36, is steadily on the job ready at roll-call, sawing 
wood, eating the regular army hardtack, and exhibiting no lantern sHdes or other statements which 
waver from that noble voice of the gospel called 'truth.' 

"This spot, except for the fact that it has rained for every day but one during the last month, 
is one of the most delightful you could cast your eye or two upon, and there are wonderful envir- 
ons which I expect to dissect in the future, including the birthplace of Jeanne d'Arc. 

"At present we have 2,200 beds ready for business and we have had all kinds of interesting and 
serious work, and as we had expectation of a drive along this front we were all prepared, but the 
terrific struggle seems to be over on the British front. Therefore, we are at present a first-class 
emergency hospital with everyone willing to do all kinds of work and not much work to do. This, 
however, is only a short lull and we no doubt will receive a large number in a few days. Our hos- 
pital work seems to be after the style of the feast or the famine. 

"Our tuberculosis farm is the only one of its kind in France and the Red Cross has decided to 
have no more, as they are husbanding their resources for other things; but it is wonderful how 
our tuberculosis patients — those recovering from bronchitis and pneumonia — have improved stead- 
ily while they were working out in this beautiful open air of the hills. There is something about 
the outdoor life, with its picturesque scenery, its pastoral simplicity, and its almost monotonous 
stillness, that appeals to the soldier boy after a few weeks of the coughs, colds and hoarseness of 
the trenches. We are glad to have it at any rate. We believe it a unique, useful and valuable 
adjunct in treatment, especially of incipient tuberculosis boys." 

On July 15, 1918, another message brought a graphic picture before the eyes of the workers 
in Detroit. Says Major Shurly: 

"Allow me to congratulate you on the wonderful News Letter published by the Detroit Chap- 
ter. It is simply marvelous to know the many things accomplished by the Red Cross at home. It 
is difficult indeed for us to realize where this work or where these base hospitals would have been 
without you. With the enormous number of wounded at this place, directly from the front, the 
surgical dressings which you have made for us are used in great quantity daily. 

"Our work is indeed humanitarian and cosmopolitan. We have American, French, British, 
and Italian wounded in this hospital at the present writing, not to mention a sprinkling of Algerians, 
Moroccans, and Arabians. Our repertoire resembles that used at the Tower of Babel, and in my 
particular case is almost as difficult to understand. It is astonishing how much sympathy and good 
work can be expressed with the sign language, and we really get on wonderfully with a mixture of 
the English 'Don't cha know,' interspersed with some French and a few Italian words. Of course, 
we can talk to German prisoners, who are wounded here, but we hate to use the language. 

"The American Red Cross has established a club for officers on temporary duty and those who 
are passing through to and from the front. We leased a theater, with seating capacity of 700, 



in the large Casino, where, in conjunction with the Y. M. C. A., the movie fan is delighted with 
American films several times a week. We have taken over a wonderful bath establishment con- 
nected with the hydropathic institute where patients, officers, nurses and enlisted men can obtam 
a fine tub or shower bath, hot or cold, any time of the day. 

"If you had seen with me many hundred soldiers' uniforms — bloody, battle-scarred, and filthy ; 
literally moving with the millions of 'cooties' that covered them, out in the yard awaiting steril- 
ization in our great steam sterilizers — you would appreciate that the opportunities offered by the Red 
Cross cannot be estimated in value. The combination here of Red Cross cleanhness and Y. M. C. 
A. godliness puts an old proverb into practical application, for they make it possible for the sold- 
iers and patients to enjoy the wholesome atmosphere of this country by providing a wonderful 
baseball field, tennis courts, opportunities for golf, and work on the Red Cross farm. This farm, 
with 240 sheep and lambs, with truck gardening and farming, is extremely picturesque with sold- 
iers scattered over its hundred acres, regaining strength by working in the fields. 

"The great work of organization is going on wonderfully well, and this hospital is caring for 
the sick and wounded with a machine-like precision obtained after many hours of hard work and 
co-operation with all departments to this great aim. We thank you for your very necessary part 
in perfecting this great plan of work. With our combat forces producing the finest soldiers in 
the world, and the medical department always on the alert to preserve the wastage of men, we 
trust this war will soon come to a victorious end." 

It is "Colonel" B. R. Shurly who has written the letter quoted in the News Letter of Feb- 
ruary 15, 1919, which serves as a fitting commentary on the service of the hospital, as well as the 
fulfillment of hopes for a victorious ending of the war, expressed in the earlier messages. 

"Since the armistice we have been very busy caring for American and Allied prisoners who 
were wounded, captured and car^d for in German base hospitals. It is exceedingly interesting 
to talk with them. Many of them were mere skeletons. They had little complaint of their treat- 
ment, as they said their food was as good as that of German soldiers, which seems to be very 
meager. But the wonderful Red Cross supplies sent through to our American prisoners, reach- 
ing them twice a week, were sufficient to save them from a slowly progressing starvation. The 
great work that was accomplished in feeding these prisoners can never be told. Indeed, many 
lives were saved by adding strength for operations and convalescence. 

"The last week of fighting was dramatic beyond description. The great war machine which 
had been finally organized by the united efforts of our people at home made its tremendous 
efforts felt by the Germans. 

"Our work over here is done, but the restoration and reconstruction of a new map, new 
countries, and emancipated people becomes the work of our legislation. 

"We have fought the flu, mended the flyer, treated the wounded bosche kindly, operated on 
the French, tried to talk to the Syrian, Russian, Arabian, and Hottentot, parlied with the French 
patients and dutifully bound up the wounded hearts and bodies of our nurses and soldiers. The 
experience is wonderful. My vein of humor has had so many anodynes and stimulating hypo- 
dermics that I scarcely know when or whether to cry or laugh. But the blessings of it are that 
the war is finished, and that we are alive and breathing; that our soldiers have had the most 
glorious victory the world has ever known; that we are soon to return to 'God's country,' from 
which no good American should dare to wander unless it is to save his country. 

"The Red Cross has done its work wonderfully well. It is hard to realize that we are 
through, and that the dismantling of these great hotels is now in actual process of completion. 
Several towers of beds, oceans of cots, and fields of blankets that should care for the poor of 
France for many years to come ! We are taking inventory and as these supplies are collected 
on one floor of the building, one begins to realize what the purchasing agents of our great Reg- 
ular Army and Red Cross have really done." 



FRENCH PRIEST WRITES REGARD FOR DETROITERS 

To the Editor: Base Hospital No. 36 left Vittel (Vosges) Sunday, February 16. The unit 
had been stationed there ever since November, 1917, and occupied some of the finest hotels and 
buildings of that town, renowned all over the world for its waters. It is not the custom of the 
French to give laud to men during their lifetime, and some of the Detroiters of Vittel may still 
wonder what was the appreciation of the population. It will perhaps be a consolation to them 
to read the accompanying lines, and they may come to the conclusion that what good they did 
here has not passed unnoticed. 

The mayor of the town, the director of the Society of Waters, Lieutenant Colonel Bour- 
gain, commanding the Seventy-seventh heavy artillery regiment, were among those who keep the 
best recollection of the Americans in Vittel and they considered it their duty to come to the rail- 
road depot to see them of? and wish them the best of luck. Indeed the day was by no means 
sunny or encouraging for people who would stand and parade outside, and no fine ceremonial 
could possibly be arranged, as was the intention of most people, to accompany Base Hospital No. 
36 to the railroad platform. There was very little cheering too. Everybody felt this was a 
parting day, and sadness was deep in every heart. 

About 6. P. M., all men and officers being safely, if not comfortably, seated in the "train 
mixte," the French population waved their farewell to their American friends and there was much 
gratitude and sincere friendship in that parting word "Au revoir." 

"Au revoir," not good-bye, for Americans are expected back in France when France will be 
able to give them better welcome than she was able to do during the sad days of 1917 and 1918. 

"Au revoir," not good bye, for France wishes to repay what she owes to the wonderful 
good men and women who came to change gloomy into glorious days. 

As I was leaving the railroad station, glancing at the dark windows of the Ceres hotel, so gay 
the day before, the director of the Society of Waters remarked, "Indeed, we must consider our- 
selves very fortunate to have known the officers and men of Base Hospital No. 36. They were 
always so nice, so obliging, and ever so unassuming. They were a nice lot." I could not say 
they were not and I answered that never in my life had I been privileged to make so many friends. 

Other people recalled the many services rendered to the population of the town by the doc- 
tors, nurses and men of Detroit. I know a certain little restaurant where the women and girls 
have pinned a U. S. army badge on their blouses, fixed up with the '36' badge. And they will 
very often remark, "How sad Vittel looks since '36' has gone." 

February 23 Lieutenant Chester B. Johnson, after arranging some business, left Vittel, and 
nobody was left of the unit which is so well remembered here and which has made Detroit ap- 
pear a wonderful name to so many Frenchmen, the home town of wonderful, kind, strenuous men. 

PAUL BONNET. 
Interpreter to Base Hospital No. 36. 
Vittel, France. 



Letters from Vittel 

"Detroit College of Medicine Base Hospital has undoubtedly been placed in a location of 
great opportunity and we are exceedingly proud to say that we are in a position to care for 
more American soldiers in our hospital than any other base hospital in this country, and as that 
was the genuine reason for our existence we feel that the faculty and college should share with 
us in this great honor." 

Major Burt R. Shurly, in a letter written from headquarters, Base Hospital No. 36, France, 
dated January 6, to his friend. Dr. J. Henry Carstens, tells about hospital life "over there." The 
above reference to the work being done by Detroit's base hospital unit, was included in this 
missive, parts of which follow: 

"After a difficult trip we reached our hospital center far up near the firing Hne, and were 
glad to have a chance to sleep in a real bed once more. The Detroit College of Medicine Base 
Hospital is certainly making a record for work. Sixteen of our officers already have been away 
to the front and Major Walker and myself leave Thursday, as two representatives from this unit, 
to attend a school of 25 officers given by one of the most celebrated French surgeons and held at 
the various great hospital centers in France. 

"Major Walker and I made a trip of two weeks in our automobile visiting 12 of the Red 
CroPS Base Hospitals and many French hospitals. 

"We have five large summer hotels we are trying to keep warm with 700 stoves. I have 
charge of the head hospital where eye, ear, nose, throat, brain and oral surgery are cared for 
together with an enormous annex building where, at present, we are taking care of mumps, 
measles, cerebrospinal meningitis, trench feet, scarlet fever, and diphtheria. We had 300 cases of 
mumps dumped on us in two days, all of whom have recovered. We have cared for over 1,000 
patients and returned all but six to duty. These died from pneumonia, one appendicitis and one 
septicemia. 

"We are getting in some modern plumbing and preparing for hard work in the sprmg. I 
have 150 cases of bronchitis which has been very prevalent among the southern troops at this 
time of year. 

"We have X-ray machines in each of our five hospitals. Major Barrett has command of the 
L.ewis hospital, formerly the Palace hotel, devoted particularly to abdominal surgery. Major 
Walker has the Detroit College of Medicine hospital, formerly the Ceres hotel which accommodates 
400 cases of general surgery. Major Berry has command of the Macomb County hospital, for- 
merely the Des Sources hotel, where 450 cases can be accommodated along the Hues of general 
surgery, orthopedic and genito-urinary diseases, and Captain McGraw has command of the Park 
hotel of 250 beds where general medical cases are cared for. As there are three other Red Cross 
hospitals now located here, and we have 3,000 in our own service, you readily may see that we 
are at the frontier post in a place that will accommodate 10,000 sick and wounded. 

"This beautiful summer resort is much like Monte Carlo. The men live in an enormous 
casino, where baccarat was the chief amusement. In this building is a theater seating 600 people 
and beautiful and aesthetic paintings are on the ceilings to give a touch of the aesthetic to this 
otherwise crude and lonesome life. 

"There are 10 wonderful springs here and an enormous hydrotherapeutic establishment with 
all the frills of Battle Creek. We have golf links adjoining the four villas where we live, a race 
course, a farm where we are putting chickens, cows, hogs and sheep ; polo pony park and eight 
tennis courts in a wonderful park surrounding the hospitals. 

BURT R. SHURLY 



201 



CHRISTMAS LETTER 

In France at Base Hospital No. 36. 

Nov. 24, 1917. 
My Dear P. 

This may not reach you before Christmas. I trust it will come in time for you to read part 
of it as my Christmas message. 

It seems truly wonderful that I am with our unit in the midst of the great things of the great 
war. 

The privilege is great, for the duties, as time proceeds, will be vast. I can scarcely grasp it 
now in all its greatness. We have been mercifully spared through the changes and chances of 
our travels from Detroit. Yet here we are all safe and set in a place of great importance and I 
think of minimum danger. 

Our hospital when fully estabhshed will be equipped for 1,000 patients and in splendid build- 
ings. My own personal quarters are far more comfortable than I imagined them to be. It will 
take several weeks to get things in order, and I suppose we shall not have many patients till the 
worst of the short winter is over. We shall take care of American troops chiefly and that is 
what I most desire. 

I am trying to get a grip upon my work but there is still considerable confusion. On our 
first Sunday, the day after our arrival, I held a Thanksgiving Service in the little English church 
which has been placed at my disposal for chapel purposes. 

For the present I hold a daily brief service for nurses and on Sunday an early celebration 
and a later service with sermon. I have my daily visits to the temporary hospital where the sick 
men of the unit are cared for. Then all censorship of mails is under my responsibiHty. This 
latter is a large and not wholly an agreeable task. Better facilities for this work will be provided 
and it will no doubt become less burdensome. In our village one sees French and Algerian sol- 
diers, crippled and returned from the front for r.istoration. The place is otherwise deserted of 
able-bodied men, but there are many light-hearted boys and girls and many women in mourning 
who, despite the great devastation, carry a brave and cheerful front. I v/as agreeably surprised 
shortly after my arrival to have a letter of greeting from Captain, now Major, Browne, of our 
parish. It was a suggestion from home to see his personal handwriting and I hope soon to see 
him. 

I shall be glad to get all the news you can send me of Christ Church, its people and its work. 
There were some dear parishioners who were ill when I left. I pray and trust they are well. It 
will be strange to celebrate Christmas so many thousand miles away and in this war region. 

I have never been away from my parish on that great festival. I shall seem to hear the 
bells ring out and see our people wending their way to the early service in the freshness of the 
morning of our Lord's Nativity. I shall be celebrating the feast here but my heart will be there, 
full of prayer for God's blessing of peace upon every soul that worships in the dear old par- 
ish church on Jefferson Avenue. 

And how desperately the stricken world needs peace from this awful war. It does not seem 
near and it will never be till the cause our country has made her own shall be vindicated by a 
sound and complete victory. I have full faith this will be, because I know that God is just. * 

W. D. Maxon. 
Base Hospital No. 36, 

American Expeditionary Forces, 
via New York. 



REAL BEDS, MATTRESSES AND SHEETS FOR OUR BOYS IN HOSPITAL, 
WRITES MAJ. F. B. WALKER 

From Major Frank B. Walker, M. D., comes this brief but reassuring letter about the 
care which is being given our boys in the base hospital in France where he is chief surgeon. 

We have had a large share of American wounded in this section, but evacuated most of 
our patients several days ago. This afternoon we received another small convoy, which 
will busy us again for a few days. 

We have had patients from all sections in the states. Quite a lot are from Iowa and 
splendid fellows they are. I saw one Indian among them from Dakota. We have not 
had any Negroes in our hospital, but I have seen them elsewhere and know they are dis- 
tributed to several places. 

We frequently have visits from commanding officers of our patients. We had two this 
afternoon who wanted to see what an American hospital was like in France. Another 
major here yesterday told me he wanted to come here if he got sick. We hear that fre- 
quently. A captain came more than a hundred miles to see his cook who was operated on 
here. We had several wounded lieutenants a short time ago. Their general came to see 
how they were. Chaplains often come long distances to look up their boys. 

Our patients sleep on spring beds with real mattresses, white sheets and pillow cases. 
They have plenty of blankets and none of them complains of his food. Did you know we 
have a cook from the D. A. C. ? 

Our chaplain, Captain (Dr.) Maxon, from Christ church. Detroit, is a splendid fit. He 
holds a service in the little Protestant church Sunday mornings, in which all Protestant 
denominations participate, and on Sunday evening leads a spiritual service with songs or 
other music in the Y. M. C. A. pavilion, which is followed by some addresses or other en- 
tertainment. He visits and does various acts of kindness for the patients in the hospital, 
arranges some kind of musical entertainment for them in their wards and conducts one 
now and then to his last earthly home. 

The Y, M. C. A. manages to provide some kind of proper entertainment for soldiers 
and nurses each evening — movies, music, addresses, or something interesting to keep them 
out of deviltry and mischief. They have a canteen and a writing and reading room and it 
is always patronized. Ball and other games are fostered on Sundays as well as other days 
and serve a very useful purpose. You may be assured the army is well cared for here in 
every possible and necessary way. 

The best, or to be modest, as good as t'le best in all lines are here and doing their 
utmost to bring speedy victory. 

Vittel, France. 



203 



EASTER LETTER 

Base Hospital 36, A. E. F., France, 

February 25, 1918. 
My Dear P. 

The fine copy of the revised version came to me yesterday, bearing the inscription of 
the goodwill of Christ Church choir. Tell them all of my extreme pleasure and gratitude. 
The gift I shall always highly prize ; and say to them that I expect to use it constantly at 
the church service each Sunday morning in connection with the sermon I preach to my 
congregation. I recall that Mrs. Roe and Miss Rowe were interested in providing this most 
acceptable gift. Kindly remember me to them and give them my warmest thanks. 

Our choir at the little church are ver}- hearty in singing the hymns. We never attempt 
anthems. It is led by Adrian Jones, formerly organist of St. Columba, and Miss Hammond 
aids with her 'cello. Enlisted men and nurses constitute the personnel, twelve in number, 
who quite fill the space set apart. Our hymns are inspiringly sung by the congregation, 
which now fills the Church every Sunday morning. 

We have been keeping the two great patriotic days : Lincoln's and Washington's. Lin- 
coln's day was inspiringly celebrated in the recreation room provided by the Red Cross and 
given to the Y. M. C. A. for their work. Our Military Band 36 opened with "America." I 
introduced Major Shurly of 36 and Maj. Clinton of 23, who spoke briefly but well upon 
the great man. The band played selections. I read from Ambassador Jusserand's book 
some fine appreciations of Lincoln by Frenchmen. The band played "Star Spangled Ban- 
ner" and "Marseillaise." Later during the concert that followed the patriotic meeting, Nor- 
ton Ives, a Detroit boy, helping in Y. M. C. A. work, sang in French, waving the French 
flag, the first verse of the Marseillaise, much to the delight of a French officer, who heart- 
ily congTatulated him. Major Shurly presided and Major Walker made a fine address 
upon Washington, connecting him with the present time. Judge Pollard of Virginia, who 
is in France, speaking at the Y. M. C. A. huts, gave a highly interesting and inspiring ad- 
dress, and a French chaplain spoke upon the common ideals of France and America. I 
have hope these meetings will in a measure tend to bring us closer to the French. 

Your work among our young people is highly commendable, and I am sure your meth- 
ods are well adapted to interest and unify them. When you next meet the young people, 
please give them my warmest greetings and tell them that the men at the front are strongly 
counting on the good will, patriotic zeal and united service of the men and women at 
home, among whom they surely reckon are all loyal young American Christians. And give 
my greetings also to the Syrians. I am proud to know we have some Syrian members of 
Christ Church, serving in the American Army the great cause of sound civilization and a 
united, better humanity. 

I am not looking for the war to end this j^ear ; though if the American air-craft and 
shipping shall sufficiently multiply to prove the promise of their effectualness, it is possible 
the enemy may sue- for peace before the next Christmas bells shall ring. I wish and pray 
that I may celebrate next Christmas with my parish and with my family and friends near. 

When this letter reaches you it will be near Easter Day in the Church. I know you 
will give my greetings. I have had messages from some of them and they have cheered 
me. Tell them that for the work here, so pathetic and so stimulating, I need both sym- 
pathy and congratulations. The opportunity is beyond belief. I wish I had tenfold more 
strength and ability. The knowledge of their thought and prayer and support is a vast 
help to me. The most interesting and fruitful field is the hospital ward. Since December 
8th we have had more than 2.000 American sick and wounded, and we are now getting 
French wounded. Soon when the great drive comes, the American boys will come to our 
care in great numbers. It is at the bedside and walking among the convalescents that I 
have my keenest satisfaction. The boys are ready with their requests. Now and then 
it is a New Testament, then "lemon drops," "apples," "reading matter," and "smokes." 
Often I can supply. Here is a chap that wants to borrow money ; another asks that a let- 
ter be written to his C. O. for mail or pay. And so it goes on among men from every part 
of the United States. Now and then I have to pause by the bedside of one who is passing 
on into the world of great silence and breathe a prayer of committal to the everlasting 

204 



arms. Then comes the day of burial. I pin a small American flag on the left breast and 
place a sealed bottle containing the name, date of death and cause, etc., with rank and com- 
pany in the casket, which is draped with the American flag and bears also a wooden cross, 
which is to stand at the head of the grave. The body is borne to the local cemetery with 
pall bearers and an escort and a bugler. The burial service is said and taps sounded; and 
the death record is sent to the Graves Registration Service. Last Wednesday a young man 
of Unit 36 was buried. The whole personnel came out in tribute of respect. The band 
played a funeral march and the procession made its way through the winding narrow 
streets, which were lined with sympathetic French people. At the cemetery the personnel 
formed a square about the open grave. The. sun shone clear and warm. We felt the 
pathetic grandeur of the scene. We thought of the hearts overseas that soon would bow 
in anguish. But we thanked God for the good examples of those who gave their lives for 
duty and their country's cause. And so it is going on and will go on more and more sadly 
glorious. 

And so I think of the coming Good Friday and Easter which you will keep in Christ 
Church and I shall keep in France. We shall together think of the sacrifice that forever 
takesj away the sin of the world, and of the new higher life which rises by sacrifice out of 
death. Say to the people : Believe that the sacrifice is eternally worth while ; that no true 
Resurrection can be to individual, to Church or nation unless men and women willingly 
die to all things base in order to give life to things true, pure and just. I pray for them, 
all and each, that God's eternal Benediction of Peace be with them always. 

W. D. MAXON. 



205 



SHURLY'S UNIT HAS GREAT TASK 
Located in Five Hotels; 3,000 Patients Capacity 

"When the weather is clear we hear the boom of the great guns," Burt R. Shurly, 
chief of base hospital unit No. 36 in France, writes to Dr. W. A, Defnet of Detroit. Dr. Shurly's 
headquarters are located in a former hotel, a fashionable summering place of France. 

"You have, no doubt, heard where we are by this time, in a beautiful watering place 
at the foothills of the mountains about 40 miles from the firing line," the letter continues. 
"We have five summer hotels that will accommodate 3,000 patients. Maj. Barrett has one 
called the Palace, Major Walker one named the Ceres and Maj. Berry has charge of a hotel 
called Des Sources and which he may name after Alt. Clemens. 

Red Cross Farm 

"This is a wonderful location with mineral springs all about, golf links of nine holes, 
eight tennis courts and a farm on which we shall have chickens, cows, sheep and hogs, main- 
tained by the Red Cross. The Casino, formerly the greatest baccarat center next to Monte 
Carlo, is the most beautiful structure and that is where the enlisted men sleep. The officers are 
living in four villas adjoining the golf links. 

"It is exceedingly cold here, with a heavy fall of snow at the present tirhe, much like 
our winter in Detroit. The head hospital, named after the Detroit commandery, which is 
my particular pride and joy, was formerly a large hotel called the Central. AVe have room 
here for about 700 beds and at present have about 400 patients. 

36 Hours from Coast 

"We are about 36 hours from the sea coast and, as the transportation is bad, it often 
takes six weeks for a letter to reach home. At this head hospital I have Haughey, Shank- 
wiler, Eugene Smith, Gaines, Van Rhee, Collins and Weaver, with 26 nurses and 30 enlisted men. 

"Maj. Walker has charge of the general surgical hospital. Maj. Barrett has the Pal- 
ace hotel, with 350 beds, and the Park hotel will be under Capt. McGraw, in general 
charge of medical cases. 

"It is now just two months since we left home and while we are actually at work this 
is certainly only the beginning of an enormous hospital work, as we have 10,000 beds here, 
and three other units have just arrived in this vicinity. 

"We expect to work night and day, for we have every confidence in the French and 
American soldiers to keep us from eating sauer kraut and sausages for dinner. Many 
of our officers have gone to the front, where they have had very wonderful experiences in 
observation in surgery at casualty stations. 

Nurses Feel Cold 

"The Y. M. C. A. is coming here and the daughter of Charles E. Hughes will con- 
duct a Y. W. C. A. campaign among the nurses who are slowly freezing to death unless 
someone from home will send a large line of heaters. The coal is very scarce and the 
stoves are very small, the weather very cold and the wind blows continuously. I never 
felt better in my life except when I was on a vacation. 

"This war is a very great sacrifice and of course we must not complain if it does not end 
this summer. We have no personal discomforts except for the extreme cold. You can 
tell our dear friends in Detroit that the warm things they gave us are working overtime. 

Southerners Suffer 

"We have been lucky as from the stor}^ of patients the winter is hard on those boys 
from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Texas. We have a number of cases of rheumatism, 
and trench feet from frost bite and infection. The British in the trenches often stand in 
water up to the waist. This is an awful country for mud. 

"We are so glad to be busy and useful and hope to get home at some sudden close 
of the war." 

206 



Nurse Personnel 

August 15, 1917. 
From : The Surgeon General, U. S. Army. 36. 
To : The Director General, Military Relief, American Red Cross, Washington, D. C. 

Subject : Nurse Personnel, Base Hospital No. .36. 

Referring to Base Hospital No. 36 which is shortly to be ordered into service, I am directed 
by the Surgeon General to inform you that as this hospital will have a one thousand bed capac- 
ity, a nursing personnel of one hundred (100) will be required. It is requested that the names 
and credentials of these nurses be sent to this office as soon as it is convenient, as the orders for 
the mobilization of the hospital have been requested. 

J. D. Glennan, 
Colonel, Medical Corps. 
Copy of letter for information Major Burt R. Sliurly. 

S.G.O. 

J-v 

Major B. R. Shurly, 

Base Hospital Number 36, 

Detroit, Mich. ' 

You are to retain the nurses you have enrolled. We have notified Miss Noyes to this eflfect 
Johnson. 

GORGAS. 

Major Burt R. Shurly, Medical Reserve Corps, 
Commanding Red Cross Base Hospital No. 36, 
College of Medicine, Detroit, Micli. 

The following received "quote" Washington, D. C, August twenty, 1917, Commanding 
General Central Department, Chicago, Illinois, Secretary of War directs that Base Hospital num- 
ber 36, Detroit College of Medicine, Detroit Michigan, be mobilized and that you direct Major 
Burt R. Shurly, Medical Reserve Corps Commanding Hospital upon completion of mobilization 
to await instructions at Detroit from Commandant Medical Officers Training Camp Fort Ben- 
jamin Harrison as to date when he shall proceed to that place authorize him upon receipt of 
such instructions to proceed to Fort Benjamin Harrison with his commissioned and enhsted per- 
sonnel to report to the Commandant Medical Officers Training Camp for purpose of equipping 
and training his command. Personnel of this hospital consists of twenty-three reserve officers 
two of whom are dentists, one reserve quartermaster Officer, fifty reserve nurses, army nurse 
corps, one dietitian, one enlisted man medical department, one hundred fifty-two enlisted men med- 
ical enlisted reserve corps and five civilian employees civilian employees under war department 
regulations in time of war are entitled to pay transportation subsistence quarters, etc. 

Major Shurly will be directed by this office to report 'to you orders for his commissioned 
personnel who are members of Medical Officers Reserve Corps will be ordered to active duty by 
this office you are authorized to order enlisted reserve corps men to active duty, report names of 
civilian employees to this office, furnish clothing, quartermasters supplies and ordnance to en- 
listed personnel at mobilization point. Nurses will not be mobilized at this time. Ship hospital 
equipment of this organization to Medical Supply Officer, Medical Supply Depot, Port of Em- 
barkation Pier Number 45, North River, New York City, and advise Commanding General, Port 
of Embarkation, Hoboken, as to date of shipment, weight and cubic capacity. "McCain quote." 
Can you mobilize enlisted personnel Detroit as service records requested eighth not received. Re- 
peat by telegram to these headquarters any instructions you receive from Adjutant General 
Army. 

HErSTAND. 

207 



REVEILLE 

Published by B. H. No. 36 

A. P. O. 732, A. E. F. 



Base Hospital 36 Men Head Consolidated 
Bureaus of This Hospital Center 

Consolidation has been the watch- 
word at A. P. O. 732 during July. In 
order to obtain a greater degree of effi- 
ciency throughout the hospital center, 
similar departments in Base Hospitals 
36, 23, 31 and 32 have been combined. 
Thus, the transportation departments of 
the four hospitals are now combined to 
form one central transportation depart- 
ment. Similar consolidations have been 
effected in the quartermaster, plumbing, 
electrical and medical supply depart- 
ments. 

While each Base Hospital retains its 
identity and operates as a separate unit 
as heretofore, employing its own staff 
of physicians, surgeons, nurses and 
other personnel, there is a marked im- 
provement in the manner in which the 
machinery of the hospital runs, due to 
the consolidation of related departments. 

Base Hospital 36 has furnished three 
chiefs under the new system — a very 
liberal share of the new positions of 
authority. Capt. A. F. Schons, former- 
ly quartermaster of "30," is now in charge 
of the financial end of the quartermaster 
department for the center with the title 
of disbursing quartermaster. Sgt. Harry 
George is "boss" of the newly-created 
transportation department and Sgt. Orvin 
Havey is at the head of_ the electrical 
department for the four units. 



ORPHAN KIDDIES SEND 

LOVE TO BENEFACTORS 
War Waifs Adopted by "36" Full of 

Gratitude Toward Their American 
"Parents" 

Our "children'* are getting along fine. 
Of course you haven't forgotten that 
Base Hospital 36 has a "family" of three 
little French children who were robbed 
of all they had in the world by the 
kaiser's devils. They are three of the 
finest tots in France and we are proud 
of them. 

The little ones who were adopted by 
"36" under the plan offered by the 
"Stars and Stripes," in conjunction with 
the Red Cross, have written their thanks 
and sent their love to their new "parents'' 
from across the sea. The Red Cross has 
sent pictures of all three children and if 
the camera has reproduced them at all 
faithfully "36" is sure there isn't a better 
looking "family" anywhere. 

Two little girls and one little boy com- 
prise our "family.'' Josephine Jego, who 
is not quite three years old, is the ward 
of Hospital B and her grandmother, with 
whom she lives, has written for her, ex- 
pressing her gratitude. Huguette Pasf.G- 
bois, age six, was adopted by the nurses 
and she has written her childish tiianks 
to her new protectors. Our boy, Aubin 
Robert, is six years old too, and is learn- 
ing to write as fast as he can so he 
can tell the officers and men how much 
he thinks of his benefactors. Mean- 
while, his mother and brother are writ- 
ing for him and their letters leave no 
room for doubt as to the sincerity of 
their thanks. 



Heyl Mr. Hoover! We haven't had 
a "baconless day" for ages. 

Our idea of the hardest job in the 
war: Serving Uncle Sam as an M. P. 
in Nice. 

The only Sam Browne belts being 
worn in the U. S. now, it seems, are 
those in the magazine pictures. 

There are some things worse than be- 
ing in the army. Think of the poor 
slacker at home waiting in agony for the 
hour when his number is called up. 

Many Americans in France are now 
able to speak the language of the natives 
fluently. They are handicapped, however, 
by the fact that the Frenchmen can't 
understand them. 

After the war is won, we're going to 
take all the money we've been sending 
home via the allotment route and set it 
aside for an ice-cream and chocolate soda 
fund. Do we hear a second? 

There was a time when we thought 
that "Sunny France" was a case of mis- 
taken identity, but we're ready to admit 
our error after having worn an O. D. 
blouse throughout the month of July. 

That famous Russian "offensive to the 
rear" a couple of years ago was a won- 
der in its day, but it must take a back 
seat for Crown Prince Willie's "back to 
Berlin" movement now in progress. 

After having been to Aix-les-Bains, 
some of the boys say the only difference 
they can notice between the Maries and 
Suzannes in France and the Marys and 
Susans back home is about 5,000 miles. 

NEW ALLOTMENT SYSTEM 

The army allotment system has been 
shorn of a considerable portion of its 
long and shaggy coat of red tape. This 
laudable stroke was accomplished within 
the past month by means of an order 
from GHQ. and henceforth the matter 
of allotments will be greatly simplified — 
for the record offices at least. 

The outstanding feature of the new 
system is that all allotments not carrying 
government allowance and made out on 
Form 1-B, are cancelled as of June 30. 
If a soldier wishes to continue sending 
a portion of his sous and centimes back 
home to his fond parents or his best girl 
or someone like that, it is necessary to 
make reapplication. 

A REAL REST CAMP 

Those long-anticipated, much-delayed 
furloughs were obtainable during July. 
The reporter knows this to be a fact be- 
cause he interviewed a number of those 
who were said to have obtained leaves 
and without exception they said they had 
been away and had had one whale of a 
time. 

Parties of "permissionaires" were sent 
to the Amexforce playground at Aix-les- 
Bains in the beautiful Savoy district of 
France. Leaves are for seven days, which 
means seven days at Aix-les-Bains ex- 
clusive of the time consumed in travel- 
ing. 

These who have not yet been away are 
anxiously waiting for their turns, for the 
boys all say that the only song they can 
think of at Aix is "This is the Life." 



208 



TWO RECEIVE COMMISSIONS 
Commissions have been received by two 
more of the enhsted personnel of B. H. 
36. Sergeant C. F. Brown and Private 
R. F. Carpenter now wear leather puttees 
and Sam Browne belts; the former hay- 
ing been commissioned first lieutenant in 
the Sanitary Corps and has been assigned 
as assistant to the Mess Officer, and the 
latter as second heutenant in the Q. M. 
corps and has reported to headquarters 
for duty. 

THE CHAPLAIN'S FAREWELL 
The Chaplain of Base Hospital No. 36, 
after nearly one year's intimate connec- 
tion with the unit (since mobilization 
August 23, 1917) expects soon to return 
to the United States where he hopes 
still to serve B. H. 36 and the Great 
Cause. He has had a wonderful experi- 
ence and can not sufficiently express his 
gratitude for the opportunity opened to 
him by Lt.-Col. Shurly who early invited 
him to serve as chaplain. 

To Col. Shurly, to Col. Phillips and to 
all the officers, enlisted men and nurses 
of 36 he returns hearty thanks for their 
good-will. He wishes he might have 
served them all more effectually. He 
prays that God's blessing will continual- 
ly rest upon Unit 36 and all its person- 
nel and that every member of it, en- 
gaged in the common work of winning 
the war, will return in safety and honor 
to the great and beloved country to 
whose cause of human justice and lib- 
erty each has contributed a true service. 

Men and women of 36 ! Remember 
the great year, A. D. 1918. May its 
memories sanctify your lives forever! 
W. D. MAXON, 

B. H. 36, July 29, 1918. 

THE GLORIOUS FOURTH 
Remember when the circus came to 
town back in Les Etats-Unis? The coun- 
try folk all came in and watched the 
parade and blocked traffic. Something 
like that happened here on the Glorious 
Fourth — only there isn't much traffic to 
block. However, the town was full of 
visitors from the surrounding hamlets — 
and all here to help celebrate Uncle 
Sammy's birthday. 

TRANSFERRED TO S. C. 

Pvt. Fred C. Magnan has left for 

parts the censor won't reveal, having 

been transferred to the Telegraph 

battalion, where he will have an oppor- 
tunity to serve Uncle Sam in work for 
which he is especially equipped. 

CHRONICLE 

June 27. Dining room of Hospital B, 
Judge Galloway of Columbus gives ad-- 
dress on "High Points in French His- 
tory." 

July 2. Informal Conference; "Relig- 
ion and the Soldier." 

July 4. Parade by Units .36 and 23, 
including convalescent patients, led by 
Post Band. Addresses by Lt.-Col. Shur- 
ly, Chaplain Feeney, Captain Russell, 
Secretary Houghton, Captain Gazet, Dr. 
Bouloumie and Chaplain Maxon. The 
Mayor of the town read his proclama- 
tion calling French inhabitants to honor 
the day. 

July 7. In dining room of Hospital B, 
address by the Rev. Mr. Mounteney, Y. 
M. C. A. worker at Baccarat, a con- 
valescent, on "What is Your Life." 

July 9. "Religion and the Soldier." 
Informal conference in dining room of 
Hospital B. Fifty soldiers present. Sev- 
eral personal testimonies. 

July 10. Dining room of Ceres address 
by Rev. Dr. Mead of Denver enthusiastic- 
ally received. History and side-splitting 
stories. 



July 14. French National Day, Amer- 
icans participate. Impressive ceremonies 
in Town Hall and cemetery. Diplomas 
given to relatives of dead soldiers. Dec- 
orating graves of French, British, Amer- 
ican. 

July 16. Informal conference ; "Relig- 
ion and the Soldier." 

July 19. Ceres dining room. Mrs. 
EUzabeth Parks Hutchinson, of New 
York, and Dr. Coffin, professor of Prac- 
tical Theology in Union Theological Sem- 
inary, New York. High mark coricert 
singing, and address upon "Spiritual 
Ideal and Power." 

July 21. 500 American and French 
patients are received. Good news brought 
by Allies' successes on Western front. 
Evening in Ceres dining room Rev. Dr. 
Kilbourn's address : "Justice, Mercy and 
Reverence.'' 

July 28. First open-air service, in 
front of Hospital B, for patients and per- 
sonnel. Familiar hymns. Cello played 
by Miss Hammond; Pvt. Gilbert, solo; 
address by Rev. Dr. Kilbourn, Y. M. 
C. A. worker. Portable organ played 
by Pvt. Jones. Chaplain presiding. 

RED CROSS TO OPEN CANTEEN 
The American Red Cross has taken 
over the canteen work which has been 
conducted here for several months by 
the Y. M. C. A. and the workers of the 
latter organization at this station have 
said "au revoir." The Red Cross can- 
teen is to be opened soon in their new 
hut. 

EVEN BREAK IN BASEBALL 
Base Hospital 36 split even with base- 
ball adversaries since the last issue of 
the Reveille. Out of four games played, 
our team won two, losing the others by 
close scores. 

Base Hospital 23 won the Fourth of 
July game, 2 to 1, and Base Hospital 
31 won the game played July 14th by 
the score of 6 to 3. Co. B,— st Engineers 
met defeat at the hands of "36" on July 
4th, the score being 5 to 3. Co. F, — st 
Infantry lost to us on July 7th, the score 
was 7 to 3. 

C'EST LA GUERRE 

Capt. Smith says "give the boys plenty" — 
A most generous spirit, it seems. 

Sometimes he refers to "Brown Betty," 
And sometimes he means plenty of 
beans. 

Those big black beans are delicious; 

In themselves they're a banquet com- 
plete. 
And besides they're highly nutritious. 

So give the boys all they can eat. 

BE CAREFUL "JAWN" 

"Jawn" Cleary, the young man who 
bounded into the limelight in our last 
number with his painless surgery, has 
scored another success in the scientific 
realm. This time he leaps to fame with 
a filmless camera. 

The secret of "Jawn's" wide acquaint- 
anceship among mademoiselles of this 
section is now revealed. Scores of Mar- 
guerites and Madelaines have posed be- 
fore the filmless camera, it is declared on 
good authority, and are now anxiously 
waiting for the pictures. "Jawii" hopes 
that the present allied effort will finish 
the war so that he can embark for the 
iJtats-Unis before the riot starts. 

Since returning from a couple of weeks' 
"furlough" with a hospital team at the 
front, "Kewpie" Williams has been show- 
ing all his friends how to go "over the 
top." His most interested audience re- 
cently was "Pete" Peters and "Ronny" 
Gilbert. 



209 



HERE AND THERE 

Ringside fans were royally entertained 
the evening^ of July 27th when a number 
of boxing bouts between convalescents 
and members of the hospital personnel 
were staged in the park. The enter- 
tainment was arranged wholly by patients. 

Sgt. "Barney" Barnett is mourning the 
loss of most of his carefully-cultivated, 
French grown moustache. Barney doesn't 
know just where he lost it, having missed 
it for the first time upon arousing from 
slumber. 

Through transfer to the Q. M. corps 
during the month of July, B. H. 36 has 
lost Sgt. Kennedy, and Pvts. Roberge 
and Ray Lyons. They are stationed at 
this center. 

Sgt. "Tony" Helfenstein has been 
transferred from "36" to Medical Sup- 
ply Depot No. 3. Our loss is "Tony's" 
gain because he's near enough to Paris 
to get a peek at the big town now and 
then. 

"Deacon" Holmes is making a name 
for himself in prohibition circles through 
his eitorts to put down strong drink. 
We like the guy — 

You like him too — 

Who never was known 

To say "beaucoup.'* 

Joe Giroux and Jack Conway had 

some thrilling times and narrow escapes 

while away on leave. They report the 

girls m Lyons made eyes at them and 

acted real bold. 

BASE HOSPITAL 36 GROWS 

Twenty-five men have been added to 

the enlisted personnel of Base Hospital 

M. Our new associates soon became as 

much a part of Unit 36 as if they had 

With tt* dd'f- ™«' -f™- 'he '^start. 
with the addition of 25 men we handle 
he great amount of work in the hospUa s 
m a more capable manner Their pr 
rival relieved an ever-increasing sfrain! 



AHERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES. 



: not be used lor money c 

Cannot be registered, 
isored regimentally but li 
■ship at the base. 



I certily that the enclosed lette 
letters refer to personal or tamily i 
ters only, and that they contaii 
reference to military or other mal 
forbidden by censorship refeulatioi 

(Name) 

Rank 

Countersigned 

Rank 



SOLDIER'S LETTER. 



e letter may be sent m 
uld be addressed, "Base Ce) 




BASE BALL GAME TODAY 

Leans vs. Fats 
of Hospital "D" 

To Be Played Friday Evening at 5:45 on Shurly Field 

Line-up 



FAT 


S Burgwin 


1st LEANS 


Tanner 


1st 


Greanleaf 


L. F.WilHams 


2nd Peters 


S. S. McQueen 


3rd 


Pugh 


P.Medcalfe 


3rdMroch 


R. F.Klingman 


2nd 


Sorenson 


C.Wood 


R. F. Smart 


P.Wilkins 


C. F. 


Kenney 


S. S.Goodrich 


C. F.Dougherty 


C.Norton 


L. F. 



This Will be a Seven Inning 
Admission Free 



Game — We Hope. 
Grandstand Seats for Ladies 



A LARGE SIDE BET IS ON THIS GAME! 
—1000 Centimes. 



210 



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"THE REVIEW" 



PLACE— To : Villa St. Marie. 
SUBJECT: 
Gaby Deslys will give a Select 

Selection. 
Costumes by Captain Randall. 

Scenery by Major Berry. 
Annette Kellerman in a Swimming 
Exhibition. 
Will also demonstrate Major Shur- 

ly*s life-saving suit. 
SHORT TALKS: 

"Why is a Quartermaster?" 
By Capt. Hickey, Capt. Schons 
and the New Quartermaster. 
"Explaining the Evils of Intem- 
perance." 

By Major Getty. 
"The Purposes of the Purity 
League.** 

By Major Clinton. 
SDNG SELECTION: 

"Always Keep Your Heels To- 
gether." 
Majors Barrett, Shurly, Walker, 
Fairbaim. 
Chorus by the Cascarets. 
DEMONSTRATION : 

"How to Open a Keg According 
to the Manual." 
Majors Rukke and Phillips. 
BENEDICTINE— 
Capt. Brown assisted by the Red 
Cross. 
N. B.— 

Major Russell will talk to himself. 
Major McGraw is unavoidably de- 
tained at his Dance Hall. 



Representing Departments and 

Hospitals of Base Hospital 

No. 36 



BASEBALL SCHEDULE 

FIRST WEEK 

Central vs. Q. M.. .Mon., May 6 
Hdqrs. vs. Pare... Wed., May 8 
Sources vs. Ceres. .Fri., May 10 

SECOND WEEK 
Palace vs. Sources. Men., May 13 
Central vs. Hdqrs. Wed., May 15 
Q. M. vs. Pare Fri., May 17 

THIRD WEEK 
Pare. vs. Central, Men., May 20 
Q. M. vs. Hdqrs.. Wed., May 22 
Ceres vs. Palace. . .Fri., May 24 

FOURTH WEEK 

Sources vs. Central 

Men., May 27 

O. M. vs. Ceres.. Wed., May 29 
Hdqrs. vs. Palace. .Fri., May 31 

FIFTH WEEK 
Q. M. vs. Palace. ..Mon., June 3 
Central vs. Ceres.. Wed., June 5 
Pare vs. Sources. Fri., June 7 

SIXTH WEEK 

Ceres vs. Pare Mon., June 10 

Sources vs. Hdqrs. Wed., June 12 
Central vs. Palace. .Fri., June 14 

SEVENTH WEEK 
Ceres vs. Hdqrs.. .Mon., June 17 



Pan 
Q. M. 



Palace. . .Wed., June 19 
s. Sources. .Fri., June 21 



By the Combined Units : Base Hospital 36, 

Base Hospital 23, G. R. S. Unit 304 and De- 

tached Organizations at this Center. 

PROGRAM, JULY 4th 

MORNING— 

9:00. Units form in parade on Parade 
Ground and march via prescribed 
route to Grand Stand, opposite Gal- 
leries, where detachments will be dis- 
missed. 
9:30. Patriotic Services (Grand Stand). 

Invocation Chaplain Maxon 

Selection: "Stars and Stripes*' 

Post Band 

Address : Introductory 

Chaplain Maxon 

Address Lieut. -Col. Shurly 

Selection : "National Em- 
blem*' Post Band 

Address Chaplain Feeney 

Address Captain Russell 

Selection. "New Colonial 

Post Band 

Address Rev. E. J, Houghton 

Address Captain Gazet 

National Anthems Post Band 

Marseillaise, America, God Save 

the King, Star-Spangled Banner. 

Doxology Sung in Unison 

AFTERNOON— 

1:30. Baseball Game.B. H. 36 vs. B. H. 23 

3:30. Baseball Game 

B. H. 36 vs. Co, B, 23 Engrs. 

Open House Afternoon and Evening at 
Officers* Club. 

EVENING— 

Entertainment in the Casino Theater for 
Hospital Personnel. 











Officers" Medical Society 

Representing Base Hospitals in 
FranceNos. 36, 23;3I.32 






- 





Meeting Called to Order at 7:30 P. M. 

ADDRESS OF WELCOME 
Major Hiram A. Philips, Com. B. H. No. 36 

PRESENTATION OF CASES 
Clinical Staff B. H. No. 36 

MY TRIP TO THE FRONT 
MajorA. E.SIanser, M.R.CCom. B. H. 31 

DANGERS OF THE FRONT 
Captain J. P. Brennan, B. H. No. 23 

MY VISIT TO THE BRITISH FRONT 
Captain George Fay, M.R.C., B. H. No. 36 

HEAD INJURIES 
Major J. F. Fairbain, B. H. No. 23 

GENERAL DISCUSSION 
REFRESHMENTS 



Xmas 



Roast Pork V 
Green Peas 
Endive Salad 



MENU 
Oyster Soup 
Dressing 

Assorted Cakes 

Pumpkin Pie 

Apple Pie 

Tea 

Cigarettes and Cam 

MUSIC 



1918 



Apple Sauce 
Brown Potatoes 
French Dressing 



Medley 
Havanola 

Mighty Like a Rose 
Underneath the Stars 
For Me and My Gal 
Medley of Popular Songs 
I Lost My Heart in Honu 
Star Spangled Banner 



FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! 



Every Precaution Must be Taken To Prevent a Fire From Starting 

In This Hospital As There Is Very Limited Means 

Of Preventing Total Destruction. 

Locate means of exit, ascertain the windows that the rope ladder passes, 
locate fire pails and fire grenades for the extinguishing of fire. 

THE GENERAL ALARM FOR AIR RAIDS AND FIRE 

WILL BE THE INTERMITTENT BLOWING 

OF THE SERGEANT'S WHISTLE. 

When leaving the building walk, do not run, be calm, do not cause excitement. 

Physically fit convalescents will assist in removing bed patients under the 
direction of officers and personnel. 

In case of an AIR RAID everybody will remain on first floor and in base- 
ment unless otherwise instructed. 

In case of FIRE leave the building by nearest exit, assemble in the park ad- 
joining the hospital and there remain until ordered to return to the hospital. 



FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! 



213 



Roster of Officers 



Adams, Ross U. Ross and Grace are living happily at 419 So. Burdick St., Kalamazoo. 
Barrett, Channing W. The former proprietor of the Palace (sounds like a fight club) is 

practicing in the Marshall Field Annex Bldg., Chicago. 
Berry, Henry G. In Army circles "The Old Man." However, he is as young as ever and is 

working hard at Mt. Clemens, Mich. 
Brown, Chas. F. Charlie could not resist the temptation to return to France. He can be 

reached at the Guaranty Trust Co. in Paris. From "Missing" to "Banking" is a pretty big 

jump. 
BuRSTEiN, Louis L. Looie's whereabouts are unknown. 
Carpenter, Rolla. Can be reached at 33 Hazelwood Ave. 
Clift, Myron William. Flint became too slow for Bill, so Detroit boasts of another valuable 

X Ray specialist. He is X Raying in the Shurly Bldg. 
Collins, Ward E. No one sees much of Dad. Kalamazoo seems to claim all of his time. 
Downer, Ira G. Ira has been married and is a proud father since his return from France. His 

ofifice is 2301 E. Jefferson Ave. 
East, Bion R. When By wasn't smashing baggage and moving equipment he did some Oral 

Surgery. His main duty seemed to be General Manager of the Bull Gang. He'd be glad 

to see anyone in his office in the Fine Arts Bldg. Miss McCaw is his able assistant. 
Ely, Leonard W. Pop Ely has not been heard from. 
Erskine, Howard M. He was Adjutant, but that should be nothing against him now. When 

in New York, see him at 115 Broadway. 
Fay, George E. George is now on the third floor of the Professional Bldg., Peterboro and 

Woodward. 
Fay, Scott S. Last address, Miami, Florida. 

Fitch, Ferris H. Ted did not stay with us long after he received his commission. He is mar- 
ried and is practicing law at 826 Dime Bank Bldg. 
Font, Anthony J. Tony has brought his family from France and is practicing at 6482 Chene 

Street, Detroit. 
Gaines, Claude B. Claude is practicing with Dr Shurly. He married Signe and has three 

children. 
George, Harry. -Harry is with Dodge Bros, and can be reached there any day. 
Harris, Albert E. A1 is practicing at the corner of Kercheval and Van Dyke and you can 

see him any noon at the Army and Navy Club. 
Haughey, Wilfred. The Judge returned to his pre-war profession of Medicine and can be 

located at 40 Poplar Street, Battle Creek. 
Hosmer, Harry L. The Fire Chief and Base Ball Manager is practicing Orthodontia in the 

Stroh Bldg., but most any sunny day you'll find him at the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, 

practicing "Golfodontia" — (straightening his shot). 
Jelks, Edward. Whereabouts unknown. 
Johnson, Chester B. Chet is "farming" at Mt. Hood, Oregon, trying to forget Mrs. Harris' 

requests for wood and coal. 
Maxon, W. D. Our former Chaplain can be seen at 936 E. Jeflterson Ave. 
McArthur, Arthur. Irving McArthur's son has been practicing in Flint for some time and, 

strange to say, he is married. You can reach him at 401 F. P. Smith Bldg., Flint. 



McGraw, Theodore A. "Terrible Ted," as he was called "soto voce," has been to Vittel for 

a lengthy stay and reports very few empty beds in the "Pare." He also noted the absence 

of stoves. Col. McGraw's office is in the Shurly Bldg. 
Matthews, James D. Uncle Jim is practicing on the ninth floor, David Whitney Bldg. 
Metcalfe, Carlton R. Address is unknown. 
Randall, Herbert E. Herb is busy in Flint keeping Irving McArthur's son on the straight and 

narrow. His office is also in the F. P. Smith Bldg. 
Raynale, George P. "Pat" still has trouble with his "dogs," but keeps busy in Birmingham 

and vicinity. 
Russell, Carlton. Garretson Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Sackrider, George P. George is always glad to see any of the outfit, so if you are in Owosso, 

don't fail to give him a call. 
Scrafford, Royston E. "ScrafI," they say, is the best surgeon in Bay City— the other one is 

away a good part of the time. His golf game is not so good as it used to be. He's getting 

older. 

Shankwiler, Reed A. "Faro Shank." He found that the wheel could not be beaten either 

by banker or player — he tried both. You can sympathize with him in the Shurly Bldg. 

any day. 
Shurly, Burt R. The C. O. keeps on the job in the Shurly Bldg. His offices are a hot bed 

of former "thirty-sixes." 
Sill, Joseph. Last heard of at Pasadena, CaHf. 
Smith, Arthur B. "A. B." is now specializing in X Ray at 10509 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 

Ohio. 
Smith, Eugene, Jr. Gene has taken up golf as a side line. We've heard he is not very good, 

but he won't admit it. His office is 312 Professional Bldg., Detroit. 
Stafford, Leo J. Leo can be reached at Adrian, Mich. 
Stone, Fred Lee. "Stoney" is in Chicago— 25 E. Washington St., keeping his eye on Jack 

Sweeney. 
Andrew Schons. "Andy" is still in the army, but not on the "Archipelago" of France. 
Sweeney, John Valentine. All right, Jack. We won't say anything that your wife can take 

offense at, but we can say that old Jack was about the most popular bird in the outfit. 

How's that? Jack can be reached at 1064 Insurance Exchange Bdg., Chicago, 111. 
Van Rhee, George. "Van" was a good boy. He spent all his evenings in his room either read- 
ing or writing to his wife. He admits it. We hope Buckie reads this. Van's office is 312 

Professional Bldg. 
Walker, Frank B. The "keeper" of the Ceres, one of the most beloved men in 36. His office 

is in the David Whitney Bldg. 
Warren, Arthur J. "Artur" used to get terribly homesick, but except for the Captain of the 

Orduna, who kept the ship in the trough o f the waves, he liked and was liked by everyone. 

He keeps Dr. Berry company in Mt. Clemens. 
Weaver, Clarence E. "Buck" is taking X Ray pictures in the David Whitney Bldg. He and 

Stroupe are happily residing at 8559 Quincy Ave. 
WooLSTON, Wm. H. Bill is practicing his profession at Albuquerque, New Mexico. He and 

the former Alice Gilmore have taken the town by storm. 



215 



Roster of Nurses 

Upon receipt of your telegram of August 15th I consulted at once with Colonel Glennan and 

was informed by him that Base Hospital No. 36 is to have a thousand bed capacity and would 

therefore require a nurse personnel of one hundred. This information was then sent to Miss 

Noyes. 

I do not think there will be any further difficulty in regard to the matter. 

Yours very sincerely, 

Dora E. Thompson, 
Superintendent, Army Nurse Corps. 

Mrs. Betsey L. Harris, Chief Nurse, born Concord, N. H., grad. New York Infirmary for 
Women and Children, New York. One year student at Teachers' College, New York, 
in Dept. Nursing and Health. Supt. Sunshine San., Brooklyn, N. Y. Supt. Nurses' 
Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. Instructor Haj-per Hospital, Detroit, .Mich. 
Supt. Children's Free Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Now at 14 Cushing Ave., Nashua, N. H. 

Miss Jennie Abramson, born Calumet, Mich., of Swedish descent. Graduate Copper Range 
Hospital, six months P. G. course at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. Surg. 
Nurse C. R. Hospital 6 months. Supt. C. R. Hospital, 5 years, 9 months. Address 
Copper Range Hospital, Trimountan, Mich. 

Miss Maude Arkell, born St. Thomas, Ont. English parentage. Graduate Harper Hospital, 
Detroit, Mich. Private duty since graduation. Address 3919 John R St., Detroit. 

Miss Emma A. Arnold, born Michigan. Graduate Bronson Hospital, Kalamazoo, Mich. 

Miss Marie M. Bach, born Pittsburgh, Pa. German and American parentage. Graduate Sub- 
urban General Hospital, New York. Private duty and Public Health nursing, Califor- 
nia. 

Miss Eva G. Babcock, born Nova Scotia. Graduate Grace Hospital, Detroit. Address un- 
known. 

Miss Aurel Baker, born Eagle, Wis. American and English parentage. Graduate Illinois 
T. S. Cook Co. Hospital, Chicago, 111. Surg. Nurse De Kalb City Hospital, De Kalb, 
111. Resident nurse at 111. T. S. Red Cross nurse at Dayton, O., during flood. W^ith 
Red Cross Unit in Russia in 1914. Married name Mrs. Purdee, Eagle, Wis. 

Miss Minnie V. Black, born Saginaw, Mich. Canadian and English parentage. Graduate Har- 
per Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Institutional work Detroit E. E. N. and T. Hospital, 
Detroit. Address 57 Alexandrine Ave., E., Detroit. 

Miss Eva G. Blackwell, born Orillia, Ont. Canadian parentage. Graduate Harper Hospital, 
Detroit, Mich. Private duty nurse. Address 43 Ravenscroflf Drive, Asheville, N. C. 

Miss Kathryn ^E. Burns, born South Frankfort, Mich., of Irish and Canadian parentage. 
Graduate Harper Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private duty nurse. Head nurse at Harper 
Hospital. With Dr. McKean, David Whitney Bldg. Office Assistant. 

Mrs. Frances Boulton, born Petrolea, Can., of Irish and Canadian parentage. Graduate To- 
ledo Hospital. T. S. Toledo, Ohio. Private duty and ward work in Flower Hospital, 
Toledo. Address 4215 Burnham Ave., Toledo, Ohio. 

Miss Frances I. Caldwell, born Menominee, Mich. Canadian parentage. Graduate Illinois 
T. S. Cook Co. Hospital, Chicago, 111. Supervisor City and County Hospital, St. Paul, 
Minn. Supervisor Glenville Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio. Head Nurse Cook Co. Hos- 
pital, Chicago, 111. Head Nurse Angina Copper Company's Hospital, Arizona. Pub- 
lic work in Illinois. Address unknown. 

Miss Edith E. Campbell, born Middleville, Mich. American parentage. Graduate Bronson 
Hospital, Kalamazoo, Mich. Institutional and private nursing. Married. 

Miss Nellie M. Cavan, born Thurso, Can. Irish and Canadian parentage. Graduate Mercy 
Hospital T. S., Bay City, Mich. Private duty nurse. Address 67 Alexandrine Ave., E., 
Detroit. 

216 



Miss Florence G. Cornes, born Cheshire, England, of English parentage. Naturalized cit- 
izen of U. S. Graduate Methodist Episcopal Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. Night Super- 
visor M. E. Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. Operating Room Supervisor Harper Hospital, 
Detroit, Mich. Now Mrs. Edward Tucker. Address 730 W. Euclid Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Alice Evelyn Cooper, born Leicestershire, Eng., of English parentage. Graduate Har- 
per Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private duty and Superintendent Detroit E. E. N. and T. 
Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Now in charge of Shurly Out Patient Dept., 62 Adams Ave., 
W., Detroit. 

Miss Ethel F. Cotter, born Corning, Ohio, of Irish and Virginian parentage. Graduate 
Grant Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. Operating Room Supervisor Grant Hospital, Col- 
umbus, Ohio. Operating" Room Supervisor Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Now 
Mrs. Thomas Peters, Columbus, Ohio. 

Miss Florence N. Crane, born Toronto, Can., of Canadian parentage. Graduate Harper 
Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private duty nurse now in Belgian Congo as missionary. 

Miss Grace M. Daly, born Indiana, of Kentuckian parentage. Graduate Nichols Memorial 
Hospital, Battle Creek, Mich. Now Mrs. R. U. Adams. 

Miss Ethel H. Davidson, born Belleville, Can., of Canadian parentage. Graduate Brock- 
ville General Hospital, Brockville, Ont. Private and institutional work. Address Lans- 
ing, Mich. 

Miss Lillian Dent, born Thurso, Can., of English and Canadian parentage. Graduate Grace 
Hospital T. S.. Detroit, Mich. Public Health and private duty nursing. Married name 
and address unknown. 

Miss Frances L. Deyell, born Bobcaygeon, Ont., of Canadian parentage. Graduate Carbon- 
dale Emergency Hospital, Garbondale, Pa. Supervisor of ward and Convalescent Home 
of Children's Free Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Public Health Nursing, Detroit, Mich. 
Address 4815 Commonwealth Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Josephine Deyell, born Bobcaygen, Ont., of Canadian parentage. Graduate Carbondale 
Emergency Hospital, Carbondale, Pa. Post Graduate Woman's Hospital, Detroit, Mich. 
Supervisor Women's Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private duty nurse. Address 4815 Com- 
monwealth Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Rebecca M. Douglas, born Chester, So. Carolina, of American parentage. Graduate 
Dr. Joseph Price's School for Nurses, Philadelphia, Pa. Supt. Hospital Chester, S. C. 
Public Health nursing, Houghton Co.. Mich. Now Institutional Nursing, Ventnor, N. J. 

Miss Jessie Duncan, born Kirkcaldy, Scotland, of Scotch parentage. Graduate Kings Co. 
Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. Institutional work in Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Mich. 
Has given up the profession. Address 1 10 Orchestra PI., Detroit. 

Miss Mary E. Gano, born Newport, Ohio, of American parentage, French Hugeunot descent. 
Graduate Grant Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. Institutional and Private duty. Hourly 
nursing. Address 67 Alexandrine Ave., E., Detroit. 

Miss Anna A. Dwyer, born U. S. Graduate Harper Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private nurs- 
ing. Address 159 Gladstone Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Catherine E. Eoll, born Bristol, Eng., of Swedish and German parentage. Graduate 
Carbondale General Hospital, Carbondale, Pa. Night Superintendent Ridgeway Co. 
Hospital, Ridgeway, Pa. O. R. J. B. Ford Emergency Hospital, Wyandotte, Mich. 

Miss Frances Ferguson, born U. S. Now X Ray Technician. Address 224 Michigan St., 
Toledo, Ohio. 

Miss Ette C. Foster, born Canada, of Irish parentage. Graduate Woman's Hospital, Detroit, 
Mich. Married. Address unknown. 

217 



Miss Margaret M. Geierman, born Clifford, Mich., of Alsatian and American parentage. 
Graduate St. Vincent's Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. Supt. Dr. Hogue's Private Hospital, 
Montpelier, Ohio. Institutional nursing at St. Vincent's Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. In- 
structor, Red Cross classes, Toledo, Ohio. Now Sister Mary John Mercy Hospital, 
Toledo, Ohio. 

Miss Sue C. Gallagher, born Logan, Ohio, of American parentage. Graduate Mt. Carmel 
Hospital T. S., Columbus, Ohio. Supervisor Hurley Hospital, Flint, Mich. Post Grad- 
uate Grace Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Now Mrs. Rodeck, and a widow. Roosevelt Me- 
morial Hospital, Battle Creek, Mich. 

Miss Catherine Gelineau, born Alexandria, Ont. Canadian parentage. Graduate St. Mary's 
Hospital T. S., Detroit, Mich. Private duty nurse. Married name Mrs. R. Waffle, 
Montclair Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Alice M. Gilmore, born Michigan, of Irish parentage. Graduate Harper Hospital, 
Detroit, Mich. Private duty nurse. Married Dr. W. Woolston of B. H. 36. Address 
1400 Central Ave., Albuquerque, N. M. 

Miss Kathryn Gorman, born Toledo, Ohio, of Canadian parentage. Graduate St. Vincent's 
Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. Bowling Green Sanitarium. Private nursing. Address 224 
Irving St., Toledo, Ohio. 

Miss I. Malinde Havey, born Stoughton, Wis., of American parentage. Graduate Illinois 
T. S. Cook Co. Hospital, Chicago, 111. Special courses at Lewis Institute, Chicago, 
and at Teachers' College, New York City. Industrial Nursing Chicago, 111. Public 
Health Work, Ann Arbor, Mich. Now Director Public Health Nursing, Washington 
Division. Address Grace Dodge Hotel, Washington, D. C. 

Miss Marguerite Headley, born Cincinnati, Ohio, of American parentage. Graduate Toledo 
Hospital T. S., Toledo, Ohio. Private duty nurse. In California. 

Miss Eleanor Hine, born Winchester, England, of English parentage. Graduate St. Joseph's 
Sanatorium, Mt. Clemens, Mich. Post Graduate Woman's Hospital, New York City. 
Supervisor Grace Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Board of Health nurse, Detroit, Mich. Now 
with Red Cross, Wyandotte, Mich. 

Miss Bertha M. Howard, born Baltimore, Md., of American parentage. Graduate Ohio 
Valley Genl. Hospital, Wheeling, W. Va. Post Graduate New York Polyclinic Hospi- 
tal, New York City. Private and Institutional nursing. California. 

Miss Janet Jefferson, born England, of English parentage. Graduate Central Emergency 
Dispensary and City Hospital, Washington, D. C. Chief Nurse General Hospital, Los 
Angeles, Cal. Special Course in T. B. and Infant Welfare Work at Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Private duty and Institutional work. Last heard from address, 34 Aberdeen Rd., Gait, 
Ont. 

Miss Vera Johnson, born Dundas Co., Ont., of Canadian parentage. Graduate U. of M. Hos- 
pital T. S., Ann Arbor, Mich. Asst. Supt. T. S. U. of M. Hospital, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
Private duty. Address unknown. 

Miss Anna C. Kaiser, born Detroit, Mich., of German and American parentage. Graduate 
Providence Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Operating Room work Providence Hospital, De- 
troit, Mich. Institutional work Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Welfare work 
Packard Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich. Now with Dr. B. R. Shurly, 62 Adams Ave., 
W., Detroit. Residence 6015 12th St., Detroit. 

Miss Jessica A. Keating, born Belding, Mich., of Irish and American parentage. Graduate 
Ohio Valley General Hospital, Wheeling, W. Va. Anaesthetist Ohio Valley General 
Hospital, Wheeling, W. Va., Institutional nursing, U. S. V. Hospital No. 76, Laywood, 
111. 

218 



Miss Amy Keel, born Detroit, Mich., of English parentage. Graduate Children's Free 
Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private and Institutional nursing, Detroit, Mich. Now Mrs. 
A. R. Waugaman, 8658 Epworth Ave., Detroit. 
Miss N. Christine Keyes, born Byron, Mich., of American parentage. Graduate Harper 
Hospital, Detroit, Mich. O. R. Supervisor Biltmore Hospital, Biltmore, N. C. School 
Nurse, Flint, Mich. Asst. Night Supt. Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago, 111. English 
Muffin Tea Room, Monroe, Mich., present address. 
Miss Catherine Killoran, born Michigan, Irish parentage. Graduate St. Mary's Hospital T. 

S., Detroit, Mich. Private nursing. Address 5113 Maxwell Ave., Detroit. 
Miss Grace Knapp, born Rutland, Vt., of American parentage. Now Mrs. C. B. Starr. 

Address 241 Kenilworth Ave., Detroit. 
Miss Elizabeth LaForge, born Elk Rapids, Mich., of American parentage. Graduate Bat- 
tle Creek San., Battle Creek, Mich. Post Graduate Bellevue, New York City. Special 
course Cleveland Babies' Disp., Cleveland, Ohio. Night Supt. Hurley Hospital, Flint, 
Mich. Babies' Milk Fund, Detroit, Mich. Board of Health, Detroit, Mich. Now Super- 
visor of Nurses' Health Dept., Birmingham, Ala. 
Miss Nellie Leggate, born Watford, Ont., of Scotch and Canadian parentage. Graduate To- 
ledo Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. Private duty nurse. 2460 Maplewood Ave., Toledo, O., 
is her address. 
Miss Grace I. Lewis, born Riga, Mich., of American parentage. Graduate Toledo Hospi- 
tal, Toledo, Ohio. Private duty nurse. County nurse. Address Howell, Mich. 
Miss Minnie A. Lester, born Mitchell, Ont., of Irish and Canadian parentage. Graduate 
Hurley Hospital, Flint, Mich. Night Supt. Children's Free Hospital, Detroit, Mich. 
Private duty nursing. Address unknown. 
Miss Ethel M. Lickley, born Salida, of American parentage. Graduate Toledo Hospital 
T. S., Toledo, Ohio. Private duty nurse. Is teaching Hygiene and Home Nursing 
in Waite High School. Address 2124 Scottwood Ave., Toledo, Ohio. 
Miss Elsie M. Lockhart, born Jackson, Mich., of Scotch parentage. Graduate Jackson City 
Hospital T. S., Jackson, Mich. Head Nurse Kenosha, Wis., City Hospital. Post Grad- 
uate Women's Hospital, New York City. Public Health Nurse, Cleveland, Ohio. At- 
tending University of California. 
Mrs. Emile T. Lohr, born Staunton, Va., of American parentage. Graduate George Wash- 
ington University Hospital, Washington, D. C. Private duty nurse. Address unknown. 
Miss Florence J. Lyons, born Ontario, of Canadian parentage. Graduate Grace Hospital, 

Detroit, Mich. California address unknown. 
Miss Emma J. McCaw, born Port Perry, Ont., of American and Canadian parentage. Grad- 
uate Grace Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Asst. Supt. Aultman Hospital, Canton, Ohio. B. 
of H. Nurse, Detroit, Mich. Is still with Dr. East, at 58 Adams Ave., W., Detroit. 
Residence, 5060 Commonwealth Ave. 
Miss Sarah A. McDonald, born Wapakoneta, Ohio, of Irish and American parentage. Grad- 
uate Woman's Hospital, New York, N. Y. Operating Room Nurse Women's Hospi- 
tal, New York. Head Nurse Waterbury Hospital, Waterbury, Conn. Private duty 
and office work. Is now in Colorado. Address unknown. 
Miss Emma J. MacDonald, born Michigan, of Canadian parentage. Graduate Grace Hos- 
pital, Detroit, Mich. Private nursing. Address 77 E. Canfield Ave., Detroit. 
Miss Margaret McDonald, born Verbank, N. Y. Graduate St. Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, 
Pa. Head Nurse New York Infirmary for Women and Children. New York City. Vis- 
iting Nurse and private duty. Is in New York. Address unknown. 
Miss Martha J. Macdonald, born P. E. Island, Can., of Scotch and Canadian parentage. 
Graduate N. E. Hospital T. S., Boston, Mass. Address unknown. 



219 



Miss Marie P. Mayer, born Muskegon, Mich., of French Canadian parentage. Graduate St. 
Mary's Hospital T. S., Detroit, Mich. Private and Office nursing. Now Mrs. Owen 
Berry, La Salle, N. Y. 

Mrs. NelHe Malone, born Canada. Graduate Harper Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private duty 
nurse. Last heard of in Alaska. 

Miss Florence Martin, born Mich., of Canadian and American parentage. Graduate St. 
Mary's Hospital T. S., Detroit, Mich. Assistant Registrar, Central Bureau of Nursing. 
Address 2972 Second Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Edith Medhurst, born London, England, of English parentage. Graduate Southwark 
Infirmary, London, Eng. Special training, Heath Hospital, Bexley, Kent. Special 
training Fulham Infirmary, London, Eng. Post Graduate Lying In Hospital, New York, 
N. Y. Acting Supt. Norwich Hospital, Norwich, N. Y. Private duty nurse. Address 
67 Alexandrine Ave., E., Detroit. 

Miss Blanche Meyers, born Sombra, Ont., of Canadian parentage. Graduate Surgical San- 
atorium, Battle Creek, Mich. Private duty nurse. Red Cross Instructor in Hygiene 
and Home Nursing. Address 1256 W. High St., Detroit. 

Miss Norma F. Miller, born Ohio City, Ohio, of American parentage. Graduate Toledo 
Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. Private duty nurse. California. 

Miss Pearl R. Miller, born Avoca, Neb., of American parentage. Graduate Lord Lister T. 
S., Omaha, Neb. Night Superintendent, Lord Lister Hospital, Omaha, Neb. Post 
Graduate Battle Creek San., Battle Creek, Mich. Board of Health Nurse, Detroit, 
Mich. In Omaha, Neb. 

Miss Ella Moran, born Maidstone Cross, Ont., of Irish parentage. Graduate St. Mary's Hospital, 
Detroit, Mich. Private duty and Board of Health Nurse, Detroit, Mich. In California. 

Miss Martha G. Murphy, born Michigan. Graduate Grace Hospital T. S., Detroit, Mich. Social 
Service Work, Grace Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Hourly nursing. Address 2972 Second 
Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Clara A. Olson, born Northfield, Wis., of Norwegian parentage. Graduate Bronson Hospital 
T. S., Kalamazoo, Mich. Private duty nurse. 

Miss Lydia J. Olsen, born Ishpeming, Mich., of Norwegian parentage. Graduate University of 
Michigan T. S. Anaesthetist and Visiting Nurse, Gwinn Hospital, Gwinn, Mich. Visiting 
Nurse, Detroit, Mich. Married name Mrs. Paul Clark, Belleville, Mich. 

Miss Lydia M. Pailca, born Winchester, Va., of American parentage. Graduate City Hospital, 
Washington, D. C. Private duty and Public Health Nurse. Married name Mrs. G. J. 
Edwards. Address Lake Mills, Wis. Has one son. 

Agnes W. Reid, 442 North Orchard St., Madison, Wis. Assistant Professor of Nursing at 
University of Wisconsin. Supt. of Bradley Memorial Hospital. President Wisconsin 
State Nursing Association. 

Aurel Baker Pardee, Eagle, Wis. Telephone No., 445. Present business. Diplomacy. Mar- 
ried. 

Miss Carrie J. Ramler, born Toledo, Ohio, of American parentage. Graduate Toledo Hos- 
pital T. S., Toledo, Ohio. Private Office duty. 1515 Norwood Ave., Toledo, Ohio. 

Miss Louise J. Reutz, born Napoleon, Ohio, of German parentage. Graduate St. Vincent's Hos- 
pital T. S., Toledo, Ohio. Private Office, St. Vincent's Hospital. Private and Office 
work. 2124 Scottwood Ave., Toledo, Ohio. 

Miss Margaret C. Roll, born Clontarf, Minn., of American parentage. Graduate Toledo Hos- 
pital, Toledo, Ohio. Private and Institutional Nursing. Now X Ray Technician, 224 
Irving St., Toledo, Ohio. 

220 



Miss Rosanna Schulte, born Bridgeville, Pa., of American parentage. Graduate St. Joseph's Hos- 
pital, Pittsburgh, Pa. Board of Health and T. B. Work, Detroit, Mich. Now in Cali- 
fornia. 

Miss Signe Schwartz, born New Haven, Conn., of Swedish parentage. Graduate Children's Free 
Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private duty and Board of Health duty, Detroit, Mich. Mar- 
ried Dr. C. B. Gaines. Address 5420 Fischer Ave., Detroit. Has two children. 

Miss Penelope C. Smith, born Baltimore, Md., of American parentage. Graduate Springfield, O. 
City Hospital. Instructor of Probationers Grant Hospital, Ohio. Asst. Supt., Robinwood 
Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. Address unknown. 

Miss Julia A. Stahl, born Dowagiac, Mich., of German parentage. Graduate U. of M. Hospital 
T. S., Ann Arbor, Mich. Private duty nurse. In Ann Arbor at present time. 

Miss Estelle P. Stroupe, born Bourne Terre, Mo., of American parentage. Graduate Mayfield 
Mem. Hospital, St. Louis, Mo. Private and Institutional duty. Married Dr. Clarence 
Weaver, B. H. 36. Address 8539 Quincy Ave., Detroit. 

Miss Ann Strub, born Ohio, of German and American parentage. Graduate Grant Hospital, Co- 
lumbus, Ohio. Private and Institutional duty. At present Supervisor Henry Ford 
Hospital, Detroit. 

Miss Dolina Stuart, born Durness, Southerlandshire, Scotland, of Scotch parentage. Graduate 
Grace Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Private duty nurse. Now at V. H. 51, Tucson, Ariz. 
Institutional nursing. 

Miss Adelaide Tallion, born Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., parentage American-French descent. Grad- 
uate U. B. A. Hospital T. S., Grand Rapids, Mich. Private and Institutional work. 
School nurse. 1072 Cardage St., Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. 

Miss Jean Thomson, born Ontario, Can., of Scotch parentage. Graduate Sarnia General Hospital, 
Sarnia, Ont. Private duty nurse. Married Serg. Buchannon. Address Pontiac, Mich. 

Miss Phoebe R. TuUar, born Marshall, Mich., of American parentage. Graduate T. S. Battle Creek 
San., Battle Creek, Mich. Visiting Nurse at Dayton and Detroit, Mich. Now Mrs. 
Robert Scruggs. Address 980 Forest St., Memphis, Tenn. 

Miss Harriet Turner, born Rockford, Essex Co., Eng., of English parentage. Graduate Toledo 
Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. Private duty nurse. General nursing. Address 2124 Scott- 
wood Ave., Toledo, Ohio. 

Miss Verna Ulrey, born Indiana, of American parentage. Graduate U. of M. T. S., Ann Arbor, 
Mich. Post Graduate, Bellevue Hospital, New York. Night Supt., Deaconess Hospital, In- 
dianapolis, Ind. Surgical nurse Fordham Hospital, New York City. Asst. Supt., U. of M. 
Hospital, Ann Arbor, Mich. Address unknown. 

Miss Josephine W. Valentine, born Urbana, Ohio, of American parentage. Graduate Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania Hospital T. S., Philadelphia, Pa. Supervisor Toledo Hospital, 
Toledo, Ohio. Served in Red Cross Unit in Belgrade, Serbia, 1916. Present address 
Soo Chow Hospital, Soo Chow, China. 
Miss Anna L. Virtue, born Nanticoke, Pa., of Irish and American parentage. Graduate 
Carbondale General Hospital T. S., Carbondale, Pa. Night Supervisor Ithaca City 
Hospital, Ithaca, N. Y. Supervisor Children's Free Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Country 
nursing. Address 148>4 N. Broadway, New Philadelphia, Ohio. 
Miss Edna Waterman, born Columbus, Ohio, of American parentage. Graduate Grant Hos- 
pital, Columbus, Ohio. Public Health nurse, Columbus, Ohio. O. R. Henry Ford 
Hospital, Detroit, Mich. Married name Mrs. Stewart Sedgewick . Newark, Ohio. 
Mrs. Clara H. Widdicomb, born Brandon, Wis., of American parentage. Graduate Butter- 
worth Hospital, Grand Rapids, Mich. Private and School nursing. Grand Rapids, Mich. 
Now Mrs. R. H. Hall, 204 Pearl St., Belding. Mich. 



221 



Miss Jessie M. Wilson, born Monongahela Co., W. Va., of American parentage. Graduate 
Battle Creek Hospital T. S., Battle Creek, Mich. Private duty nurse. Address un- 
known. 

Miss E. Gertrude Witban, born Detroit, Mich., of English parentage. Graduate Grace Hos- 
pital, Detroit, Mich. Private and Public Health duty. Doing Public Health nursing 
in Michigan. 

Miss Esther I. Wonderly, born Fremont, Ohio, of American parentage. Graduate Toledo 
General Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. Private duty nurse. At present Supervisor of Sur- 
gery, General Hospital, Toledo, Ohio. 



222 



Roster of Enlisted Men 

AdamczaKj John W. Whereabouts unknown. 

Adams, Avon D. 1619 East Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Mich. 

AivALiER, John. Chef at The Country Club, Grosse Pointe. Marcelle and John are reported 

"still happy." Marcelle's two brothers are now in Detroit and are still awed by the wonders 

of a big city. 
Allen, Oran C. Graduated from Law School June, 1922. Can be reached care of Bland Pugh, 

826 Dime Bank Building. 
Anderson, John. The professor's address is 3358 Vicksburg Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. 
Antonotti, Thomas. Whereabouts unknown. 
April, Henry. Address unknown. 

AsKAM, John C. 503 West Lawn Ave., Findlay, Ohio. Honest John. 
Aukstikalnis, Anthony. Little Tony can be reached any bright summer day in the kitchen 

of the Oakland Hills Country Club, Birmingham, Mich. 
Backus, Samuel G. Sam finds that there is more actual cash in the Real Estate business than 

in Law. He is selling improved and vacant property in the Metropolis of Pontiac and can 

be reached in care of Backus & Bell, No. 8 Marsh Block, Pontiac. 
Bain, Colin T. Has just purchased some property and will live with wife and family at 1527 

Richton Avenue, Highland Park, Mich. Reports have him working for Henry Ford — NOT 

in the kitchen. 
Baker, Asa M. Still in the Dental business. Room 3, Tower Bldg., Saginaw, Michigan. 
Barnett, Albert J. Runs the finest pool room in the city at 7263 East Jefferson Avenue, De- 
troit. It is claimed that Barney was once a member of the Swiss Navy, so he should know 

how to run a Billiard Parlor. 
Bayne, Jack. The Kid Glove cook. Jack says that he is selling shoes for the Queen Quality 

Shoe Shop — ladies exclusively. Are there any remarks ? Married and Hves at 4018 Milford 

Ave., Detroit. 
Beach, Watson. At present attending the Detroit Medical College. Lives 5274 Lincoln Ave., 

Detroit. 
Bear, Phillip. Phil is working for the Cadillac Motor Car Co. and at present resides at 676 

Charlotte. 
Benton, George. Purchasing Department, Cadillac Motor Car Co. Don't know what he does, 

but he sure punched a mean typewriter in France. 
Biber, Edward A. 826 Walnut Street, Lansing, Mich. Chief side Hne was Photography in 

France — What is it now? 
Blackwell, Stephen J. Address unknown. 
Blanchakd, Oley R. Spit Ball King of the A. E. F. Oley was married a short time after 

his return. He has a regular job now — on a farm — has to take the sheep out for a walk 

every day, they say. Everybody in the County knows Oley, so just Clinton, Michigan, will 

reach him. 
BoGUE, Arthur P. Keeling & Bogue, Attorneys, Pontiac. Married and twice a Papa. 
Boyce, Brinkley. Address unknown. 

Bradley. James. Old Jim has dropped from sight and none seem to know anything about him. 
Buchannan, Vance B. Buck stole a march on many of us and married Miss Thompson, R. 

N. At last reports they were still living happily together at 72 Green Street, Pontiac. 
BuRGWiN, Frank P. Oak Grove, Michigan. Sounds like an awfully nice place. 
Calloway, William L. Address unknown. 
Campbell, Bruce. Adrian, Michigan. 

223 



Campbell, James V. Attending University of Michigan and can be reached at the DKE House, 
1555 Washtenaw Street, Ann Arbor. Jim's diary helped a lot in the compilation of this book 
— hats ofT. 

Carlin, Harry. Someone must have murdered the Bugler. Whereabouts unknown. 

Carver, Harry T., Jr. 2641 West Grand Blvd., Detroit. 

Cashmore, Joe M. Wyandotte, Michigan, v/iW get him. 

Cashmore, William S. Last heard from Bill he was running a train of trucks. We do know 
he is married and lives in River Rouge — the bad man's town. 

Childs, William P. Address unknown. 

Christensen, Emanuel. Blanchard, Michigan. 

CiLiAX, Thomas W. The Chinese Plumber is married and resides at 268-4 Charlevoix Ave., 
Detroit. 

Cleary, John. Jawn had many trades. He was the only Veterinarian connected with 36 and 
showed the natives the hows and whys of clipping Dogs' tails. Jawn was also a bear with 
the camera, taking pictures without films. Last reported address was 222 East Elizabeth 
Street, Detroit. 

Clemmer, Clarence. Care of The Willard Storage Battery Co., 1242 Cass Avenue, Detroit. 

Clifton, John E. Address unknown. 

Cline^ Harry. No one seems to have any dope on Harry. 

Cogan, Francis R. Cogan the Cop can be reached at 1629 Beniteau Street, Detroit. Don't 
think he is on the police force now. 

Collins, Charles B. Address unknown. 

Comerford, Jack W. Litter Jack is married, paid his dues to the Association, and lives at 7927 
East Lafayette Blvd. 

Conway, John J. Little John is located at 127 Fair St., S. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

Cook, Raymond L. Address unknown. 

CoQUOz, Maurice. Coco took a trip over the seas to the old country since the war and brought 
home a boyhood sweetheart. They are living at 454 Medbury Avenue, Detroit. 

CoRDES, Wesley. Papa Cordes is entrenched with wife and family at 1085 Meldrum Avenue. 

Cowan, Harry J. Harry married a French girl in Paris. She spoke no English, he spoke no 
French, but they both knew a smattering of Yiddish, so everything went smoothly. Address 
unknown. 

Cum MINGS, RoY C. Roy is selling Farm property, married and lives at New Baltimore, which, 
in the Real Estate language, is a suburb of Detroit. From the best carpenter in the A. E. 
F. to Real Estate is an awful drop, Roy. 

CuRRAN, James. Jirh is doing his duty as a loyal citizen and is on the Police Force in Pontiac. 
He claims to be in training for an M. P. job in Paris during the next war. 

CzuEAKOWSKi, Waclaw. No wonder we do not know his whereabouts — we can't even ask 
where he lives. 

Davis, Harold. Doc was a mean one on a motorcycle. Mothers called their children in the 
house when they saw his dust. They say that poultry has not yet returned to normal num- 
bers. Doc did not know that chickens were meant to lay eggs and not to die under a motor- 
cycle. Mrs. Davis has gone back to France for a short visit. 

Delisle, William. Bill's address is unknown. 

Dennison, Edward J. Address unknown. 

D'Haene, Cyril. Deehaw is married and living at 417 Navahoe Ave, Detroit. He has gotten 
into the Radio game, we understand. 

Dill, Hugh L. Hugh is attending the Detroit College of Medicine and lives at 1011 Ferdi- 
nand Ave., Detroit. Apparently he did not have enough pills in the Army. 



DiNizio, DoNATO. Huckstering, we hear. Address unknown. 

DiscHER, George. The Vittel Jockey is still at the old stand in the Recreation Barber Shop, 
working from morning 'til night. George sees more of the gang than anyone else— we know 
him so well, no tips are necessary. 
DiVELY, Walter. Address unknown. 

DoMBROWSKi, DoNATO. He was so hard boiled no one wants to know where he lives. 
Dougherty, Frank. You always did have to "show down" to Frank — now he lives in Mis- 
souri — 332 Good Hope Street, Cape Girardeau. 
DuFault, Alfredo. The Duke was last heard from in Paris. H you wart to find any dope 

on him, write to Charlie Brown, Paris. 
Emory, James C. Address unknown. 

Entwistle, John. John is married and lives at 1934 Clements Ave., Detroit. 
Erwin, Kent. Kent is not doing much pharmacy these days — the life insurance business seems 

to be too good. Married and lives 5040 Linsdale Ave., Detroit. 
Evans, Arthur. Davison, Michigan. 
Evans, Daniel H. Nobody knows what became of Lightning when we demobolized. The only 

time he ever showed speed was leaving Camp Custer. 
Ewald, Clarence. The fancy cook lives at 1305 17th Street, Detroit. 
Fairchild, Horatio. Address unknown. 

Fantone, Guiseppe. Address unknown — we'll bet it is either Canada or Cuba. 
Feryo, Mike. Nobody has seen Mike, either. 
Finn, Silas M. Munger just couldn't stay away from France and has made one trip since his 

discharge. He is now at 70 West Bethune Ave., Detroit. 
Fornaris, Gustave a. Address imknown. 
Foster William D. Toledo. 
Fowler, Cecil A. The Roulette King. Whereabouts unknown, but thought to be care of the 

National City Bank, Buenos Aires, Argentina, S. A. It costs a lot to go down there. 
Fox, Leland G. Address unknown. 

Eraser, Robert. We were not positive that Bob was really Scotch, but he says he was born in 
Alloa, Scotland, in 1895 and came to this country in 1913. He is a partner in the firm of 
Brooks & Eraser, 7700 Kercheval Ave., Detroit. 
Fulton, William R. Address unknown. 

Gamble, Roy G. Roy has a studio at 253 West Fort Street and is making a name for himself 
in the Art world. Some of his overseas work is represented in this book. He tells me that 
he is not doing any signs or placard work. 
Gauthier, Joseph G. Joe is claim agent for the Grand Trunk — see him for quick adjustment*. 

You can reach him at 400 Grand Trunk Bldg., 400 East Jefferson Ave. 
Genthe, Walter. 119 Oak Street, Wyandotte, Michigan. Walter is selling Dodge cars down 

his way. 
George, Henry. Whereabouts unl^nown. 

George, Richard Dick is a salesman and lives at 9260 Gratiot Ave. 
Gilbert, Dwight. Freight Agent for the C. B. & Q. Railroad. Lives 42 North Ashland Ave.. 

LaGrange, 111. 
Gilbert, Ronald. Ron was in Hollywood for some time after discharge, but it was too tame 

for him, so we find that he is again in Detroit, 607 Lincoln Building. 
GiROD, John Frank. Whereabouts unknown. 
Giroux, Joseph M. — ^Whereabouts unknown. They say Joe had a great reputation as a boxer 

— he needed it. 
Goodrich, Edmond T. Eddie is now connected with the Standard Accident Insurance Com- 
pany and from reports has been traveling quite a bit. Speed was his middle name. 

225 



Green, Wilfred. Still plying his Pharmaceutical trade at 4462 Fort Street, West. Under cer- 
tain conditions Bill was an excellent furniture mover in Vittel — circumstances have changed 
that, however. 

Greenleaf, Law^rence. 1684 Glendale Ave., Detroit. Part of each twenty-four hours devoted 
to making Fords. 

Griffith, James H. Poor old Grif. No one seems to know where he is located. 

Hackett, Percy D. Address 262 Prospect Place, Ridgewood, N. J. 

Hamilton, Arthur M. Another mean dishwasher in the West. 2910 Harvard Blvd., Los 
Angeles, Cal. 

Hamilton, Thomas J. These Westerners seem to hang together. T. J. can be reached Box 
211, Arcade Stehan, Los Angeles, Cal. 

Hamilton, David O. Dave is married, has one heir and is upholding 36 traditions in Green- 
witch Village, New York City. 

Harnden, Charles J. The high toned cop can be reached at 5017 Seminole Avenue, Detroit. 

Harper, Ralph. Do not know what Ralph is doing, but he lives at 201 N. Ingham Street, Albion, 
Mich. 

Harrigan, Bernard A. This red headed sergeant can be reached at 245 No. Washington Ave., 
Battle Creek, Mich. Someone saw him in California recently, but guess he was only so- 
journing. 

Harrison, Floyd W. While he may have nothing to do with politics, yet he lives in a bad 
place. Wyandotte, Route No. 1, Lincoln Park, Mich. 

Hass, Herbert. This wild driver is at 523 N. Adams Street, Mason City, Iowa. 

Hatch, Carl A. Still nutting at Eloise, Michigan. 

Havey, Orvin T. The best electrician in France is now following the same trade at 301-5 State 
Street, Madison, Wisconsin. We hear he is married. 

Healy, William A. Purchasing Agent for the Standard Tool and Mfg. Company, Detroit. 

Hensell, Alfred C. Augusta, Michigan. 

Herbst, George C. George enlisted as a "tailor," but he never pressed a suit in his life. He 
lives 2406 Fisher Ave., Detroit, and still tailors. 

Holbrook, Carl. Carl is now a full fledged lawyer — guess he wanted to find out how to keep 
out of the next war. You can find him at Clare, Michigan. 

Holland, Cornelius. The old skipper is living in Canada — of course there is a better oppor- 
tunity in Windsor, but we miss him on this side. We wonder if he finds "poultry getting" 
at night as productive here as in France. We must hand it to the Skipper, for he picked up 
the French language more quickly than anyone. Go see him at 1045 Hall Street, Windsor, 
Ont., Canada^=^you won't regret the visit. 

Holmes, Harold S. You can locate Ducky at the corner of John R and Orchestra Place, De- 
troit. 

Honey, William E. Bill, we understand, is still following the Hearse at 124 W. Kilborn St., 
Lansing, Mich. 

Huddle, Wilbur T. Nobody seems to know what has become of old Bill. 

Hunt, Stanley D. Red has a drug store at 7293 Lane Ave., Detroit, Mich. 

Hyde, G. Warren. Britz is studying medicine at Ann Arbor and lives at 300 No. Ingalls 
Street, same town. We surely thought with such a middle name and his experience in 
France he would have had a good postmastership under the present administration. 

Ireland, Leslie G. Ireland is with the Walker Sign Company. They say he is the fellow who 

turns the sign lights on and oS. He lives at 1799 Parker Ave., Detroit. 
Israel, Norman. Whereabouts unknown — probably with the pilgrimage to Palestine. 
Ives, Charles F. Chuck has about finished his Law Course at Ann Arbor and will enter the 
cold business world with Warren, Cady. Lidd and Hill, in the Union Trust Building. 

226 



Joe, Valentine. Valentine is encamped in his Clinical Lab. at 736 David Whitney Building- 
White coat n'everything. 
Johnston, Ease L. Earl is married and was presented the other day with a baby girl, who re- 
sides with the rest of the family at 236 Rhode Island Ave., Royal Oak, Mich. 
Jones, Adrian R. Bruno at last reports was still on friendly terms with Britz and is also going 
to be one of the foremost surgeons in Detroit. At present he lives at 1701 Field Ave., De- 
troit, Mich. 
JosLYN, Lee E., Jr. Another attorney. If any of the boys get in jail there surely is a battery 
of lawyers to get them out of trouble. Lee is with his father at 1530 First National Bank 
Building. 

Kelly, Gerald F. 137 Rhode Island Ave., Highland Park, is where Big Kelly hangs up his 
hat. 

Kelly, Sherman. Little Kelly is a Deputy in Judge Goff's court, whatever that means, and 
lives at 1637 Atkinson Ave. 

Kenny, George H. George is with W. A. C. Miller in the lumber business — married — one "cheild" 
and resides 9315 Monica Ave., Detroit. 

Klingman, Jesse. Jess can be located with the J. F. Hartz Co., Broadway, Detroit, Mich. 

Knapp, Clarence. Clarence is dealing in Fords or anything movable and resides at 88121 Dur- 
and Ave., Detroit, Mich. They say that Clarence became so familiar with Joan of Arc one 
time that he came home with many bruises. Of course he claimed that he fell off his bi- 
cycle, but Skipper Holland says different. 

Kramer, Walter H. Serg. Kramer has disappeared. No one has heard or seen anytliing of 
him. 

LiBBE, Frederick B. Fred is living at 7253 Kercheval Ave. 

LocKHART, Harry J. Last heard from him was 214 E. Oakland Square, Bellefontaine, Ohio. 

LuTEY, Carrol. Carrol is living at 17198 Gallagher Ave., Detroit. 

Lyons, Leo J. They say he is with Henry Ford and lives at 8746 Kercheval Ave., Detroit. 

Lyons, Ray T. Also making automobiles with Studebaker, and lives happily with Leo at the 
above address. 

McConnell, Harry J. Harry is still in Hospital work at the State Hospital in Pontiac. 

McDonald, Claude. Claude is selling stocks and lives at 724 Van Dyke Ave., Detroit. 

McGillicuddy, Walter E. Would you believe it, Mac is married? He is still in the Shurly 
Hospital, 62 West Adams Ave. 

McQueen, Ronald H. 2334 Fourth Ave., Detroit. 

Mack, Florian. Last heard from, Mack was in Defiance, Ohio. 

Marchant, Herbert. Our Old Reliable Organist resides at 4003 Pingree Ave., Detroit. 

Marks, John. Want a cigar? See John in the Book Bldg. 

Martin, Richard. Franklin Mine, Houghton, Mich. 

Mason, John R. Last address 38 Leicester Court, Detroit. Some say he is working at Ford's. 

Medcalfe, Willis R. The printer of the Reveile seems to have disappeared. No one knows 
his address. 

Meisner, Leo J. Leo is working with the Morris Plan Bank and lives at 3633 Field Ave. De- 
troit. 

Melville, Donald. 264 Winona Ave., Highland Park, Mich. 

Merriman, Lloyd. We understand that he is still in Newspaper work, but his address is un- 
known. 

Metcalf, Russell. 1710 Abbott Street, Detroit. 

MiLROY, Raymond T. Merkle is still getting fat and has a big political job in the County Build- 
ing. He lives at 802 Calvert Street, Detroit. 

227 



Monte, Albert J. Monte was a motor cop at last reports in Ecorse. If he does not like you, 

you better not drive through Ecorse. Ask B. R. S. 
Morrison, Lester A. 758 Calvert Ave., Detroit. We have heard that he about owns the Proc- 
tor & Gamble Co. Lester always was clean, but it's a big question about that 99 44/100% 

pure. 
Mrock, John. 2267 St. Joseph Street, Detroit. During John's leisure hours he could be found 

at his old profession — selHng bottles, etc., to Du Lac — down on the river. 
AIyring, Herbert J. 1932 Clements Ave., Detroit. 
Nash, Walter R. Howell, Michigan. Think he must be farming. 
Norton, Frank. Frank is with J. L. Hudson Co. Go in and see him. 
Norton, Roscoe. Roscoe is still in the drug business at 5620 Dix Avenue. 
Noble, Donald A. Honey is still buying and selling anything movable or immovable for cash. 

He lives at 1601 Pingree. He says the house is always open for anyone in 36. There may 

be something else in the ice box besides butter, too. 
O'Neill, Peter B. Pete's last address was 257 Watson Street, Detroit. 
Otter, Clarence E. Clarence claims that he is still in the Undertaking business at 3975 Cass 

Avenue, but if you want to see him during the day, look him up either at the Boat or Hunt 

Club. He is not only a wicked boatsman, but rides a mean pony. 
Ouellette, Leon A. 1446 Ridgewood Ave., Lakewood, Ohio. 
Parker, Ed. Whereabouts unknown. 
Peters, Eugene G. Pete is working for Henry Ford and can be reached in care of Barney, 

at 7263 E. Jefferson Ave., Detroit. 
Peterson, Arthur L. Peterson is married, George Discher says so, and lives at 1746 Seward 

Ave., Detroit. 
Phillips, Harry L. 2684 West Grand Blvd., Detroit. 

Pinnegar, Kenneth. Pinnegar, of course, is married, and lives 1009 Seyburn Ave., Detroit. 
Postman, William F. Bill was all right just so long as the moon was hidden. The self ap- 
pointed watchman (much to the Skipper's embarrassment) lives in Rudyard, Michigan. 
Pulkinghorn, William R. Pulk lives at 111 Elmhurst Ave., Detroit. 
PuGH, Bland A. Bland is practicing law beside Ted Fitch with Prentis, Mulford, Pugh and 

Fitch, at 826 Dime Bank Bldg. Just at this time he is running on the Democratic Ticket 

for Circuit Court Commissioner. We don't think he will be elected, but wish him luck just 

the same. 
Rabbette, Leo J. The A. E. F. Poet lives at 47 Pope Street, Hudson, Mass. 
Rau, Roscoe. 53 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 111. Guess he wanted to be near Sweeney 

again. 
Reason, Clare D. Room 202, 90 Griswold Street, Detroit. 
Ripley, Racine. 2236 Cadillac Ave., Detroit. 

RoBARGE, Charles. Rowbottom is with the Solvay Process Co., West Jefferson Ave., Detroit. 
Robinson, Joseph. Ike the pike is living on Walnut Street, Mt. Clemens, Mich. Some say it 

is a bath house. We all thought Ike had enough water while going back and forth to France. 
Rogers, Albert J. The holy ghost lives at 781 Rademacher Ave., Detroit. 
Ross, Edward C. 427 Concord Street, Detroit, Mich. Don't know what Alabam is doing, but 

he has apparently kept out of jail thus far. Judge Bartlett will never see him. 
Schlenker, Albert H. AI is in the Real Estate Business at 628 Ford Bldg., Detroit. 
Schuyler, Windsor D. Schuyler is married and at present holds down a job with the Kinsel 

Drug Store on Michigan Ave. 
Scott, Walter. 8397 Senator Ave., Detroit. 
Seeber, Walter G. Tongawoxie, Kans. Do not think there is such a place, but his mail seems 

to reach its destination. 

228 



Sessions, Donald W. Yet another lawyer is Dip. He is at present holding down the job of 
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney at Lansing. A lot of the fellows found out that he had a 
pretty good drag when it came to the bonus question. His address is 812 Lenawee Street, 
Lansing. 

Sessions, Stanley M. Marion (Gee, he'll be sore) is in the insurance business in Lansing, we 
hear, and can be reached in care of Dip. 

Sewell, William. Address care of Barney, at 7263 E. Jeflferson Ave. 

Shoemaker, Clare. The mean steak cutter lives at Leonard, Mich. 

Singer, Archie P. Archie P. can be reached at 6067 Linwood Ave. 

Sitter, Carl. No one seems to know anything about Carl. 

Skripsy, Otto. Living on his A. E. F. profits at 527 So. Topeka Ave., Wichita, Kans. 

Smart, Lloyd C. Beany is still in pretty good trim, as evidenced by his "showing", at the 
last picnic on Belle Isle. Address — 6067 Linwood Ave. 

Smedley, Raymond B. Smed. has a city job of some kind. Understand he hasn't played an 
instrument since the eventful ride from the laundry that moonhght night a short time ago. 
He lives 484 Brainard Ave. 

Smiley, Walter A. Smiley seems to have disappeared, but we do know he is not driving for 
Dr. Shurly. 

Smith, Frank H. He's a Yankee still— lives 10 Harlow Hill Rd., Mexico, Maine. 

Sorenson, Arthur. Arthur lives at 4253 Eighteenth Street. 

Swift, Leland. Still in the grain business, and lives 7740 Third Ave. 

Tanner, Howard. See Howard if you want cheap tires and free air. Howard is squirting 
gas and oil, too, at 5918 Second Ave. 

Teague, Wm. E. Gossip has it that he is in the brokerage business and lives at 19 No. 5 St., 
Evansville, Ind. 

Tucker, Howard P. Tucker liked his Uncle Sam so well he is now on the U. S. S. Bridge, 
Brooklyn Navy Yard, N. Y. 

Vanderlind, Edward. 226 N. Johnston Ave., Pontiac, Mich. 

Varion, Joseph H. Varion is at the State Hospital, Pontiac. No, he is working there. Ad- 
dress, 172 S. Paddock St., Pontiac. 

Wallace, Jack E. We understand that Jack is married and Hves at 1277 Belvidere Ave. 

Wallace, Skeen D. Last heard of Skeen, he was in the Real Estate Business. Present where- 
abouts unknown. 

Weaver, Earl. Buck lives in Virginia, Ills. 

West, George M. George is selling Chevrolet cars at the General Motors Building and lives 
at 1523 St. Clair Ave. We hear he is married, too. 

Whalen, Jack J. Jack can be reached at 406 Tennyson Ave. 

Wheeler, Ralph F. 1074 Sheridan Ave. 

Wild, William F. Bill is selling lots of printing as Sales Manager for the Motschall Print- 
ing Co., on the Boulevard. 

WiLKiNS, Ross. 103 Bloomfield Street, Dorchester, Mass. 

Williams, Carl. Cupie is practicing law with Martin & Williams, at 1514 Ford Bldg. 

Wilson, Edmond, Jr. Wq understand that Edmond is doing some writing for Vogue in New 
York, but his latest address is unknown. 

Woodworth, Spencer. 114 Eastlawn Ave. At last reports he was working for the Wright Bros. 

Wright, Hal. F. Lisbon, Ohio, and married. 

Wright, Wm. The old cootie exterminater is also married and a resident of Lisbon. 



229 




230 




Dinner in M. C. De-pot 





A Stolen Moment 



Off Duty 



»— i<-, ># *M!-rf ■■^^i'^; ' ■ rt?^^'.".■l ' ^^ ' 



'k^^mv-' 



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Sou)iKRs' Xmas Dinner, Vittel, 1918 
231 




Colonel Angus McLean 

Colonel Burt R. Shuely 

Discussing the Merits of Base i; and Base 36 



232 









Sillli 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 913 377 5 






